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Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)?

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On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 3:09 PM, John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> wrote:
> Don't worry, I was still unclear about what to do after reading all
> the responses, even yours! But one thing that made me feel better was
> that I wasn't having a Python problem as much as a *math* problem. I
> changed my get_factors function to only go as far as the square root
> of the number in question, and that yielded an answer immediately. :)
>
> However, even after reading the Wikipedia page about prime numbers and
> trial division, I'm still a little unclear as to why the square root
> of the number is the upper bound of the range you need to check.

Careful, note that the greatest prime factor may actually be greater
than the square root.  It's just that it's possible to find it without
iterating past the square root.  This is because for each p that is a
factor of n, q is also a factor of n, where p * q = n.  If p >
sqrt(n), then q < sqrt(n).  Therefore you can find p by finding q and
dividing n / q.

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How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 12:48 -0700
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 14:02 -0600
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Irmen de Jong <irmen@-NOSPAM-xs4all.nl> - 2011-06-21 22:10 +0200
    sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Irmen de Jong <irmen@-NOSPAM-xs4all.nl> - 2011-06-21 22:22 +0200
      Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 14:09 -0700
        Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOSPAM@xs4all.nl> - 2011-06-21 23:39 +0200
        Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 15:41 -0600
          Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 14:48 -0700
        Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Vlastimil Brom <vlastimil.brom@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 23:33 +0200
        Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2011-06-21 17:05 -0700
          Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 18:21 -0700
            Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2011-06-21 19:09 -0700
              Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 20:02 -0700
                Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOSPAM@xs4all.nl> - 2011-06-22 19:46 +0200
            Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2011-06-22 03:10 +0100
            Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Mel <mwilson@the-wire.com> - 2011-06-21 23:02 -0400
              Re: sorry, possibly too much info. was: Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? John Salerno <johnjsal@gmail.com> - 2011-06-21 20:41 -0700
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Mel <mwilson@the-wire.com> - 2011-06-21 16:19 -0400
    Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> - 2011-06-22 23:21 -0700
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2011-06-21 21:26 +0100
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-06-21 19:30 -0400
    Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2011-06-21 17:00 -0700
      Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-06-22 00:18 -0400
        Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2011-06-21 22:32 -0700
          Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-06-22 18:46 -0400
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Benjamin Kaplan <benjamin.kaplan@case.edu> - 2011-06-21 20:07 -0700
  Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Chris Torek <nospam@torek.net> - 2011-06-22 05:58 +0000
    Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2011-06-21 23:23 -0700
      Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Slaunger <slaunger@gmail.com> - 2011-06-23 02:52 -0700
    Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-06-22 01:16 -0600
    Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Anny Mous <b1540457@tyldd.com> - 2011-06-22 22:01 +1000
      Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-06-22 22:28 +1000
      Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-06-22 09:52 -0600
    Re: How can I speed up a script that iterates over a large range (600 billion)? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2011-06-22 16:33 +0100

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