Pseudoprime: Information from Answers.com

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A pseudoprime is a probable prime (an integer which shares a property common to all prime numbers) which is not actually prime. Pseudoprimes can be classified according to which property they satisfy.

1 Classes
2 Applications
3 Frequency
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Classes

The most important class of pseudoprimes come from Fermat's little theorem and hence are called Fermat pseudoprimes. This theorem states that if p is prime and a is coprime to p, then a^p−1 − 1 is divisible by p. If a number x is not prime, a > 1 is coprime to x and x divides a^x−1 − 1, then x is called a pseudoprime to base a. Some sources use variations of this definition, for example to only allow odd numbers to be pseudoprimes.^[1] A number x that is a pseudoprime for all values of a that are coprime to x is called a Carmichael number.

The smallest Fermat pseudoprime for the base 2 is 341. It is not a prime, since it equals 11 · 31, but it satisfies Fermat's little theorem: 2³⁴⁰≡1 (mod 341).

Every odd number q satisfies $a^{q-1} \equiv 1 \mod q$ for $a = q - 1$ . So the definition of a Fermat pseudoprime after Crandall and Pomerance is: A composite number q is a Fermat pseudoprime to a base a, if $a^{q-1} \equiv 1 \mod q$ and $2 \le a \le q-2$ ^[2].

This stronger definition will exclude every power of three (9, 27, 81, 243, ...), and many even naturals from the Fermat pseudoprimes.

Applications

The rarity of such pseudoprimes has important practical implications. For example, public-key cryptography algorithms such as RSA require the ability to quickly find large primes. The usual algorithm to generate prime numbers is to generate random odd numbers and test them for primality. However, deterministic primality tests are slow. If the user is willing to tolerate an arbitrarily small chance that the number found is not a prime number but a pseudoprime, it is possible to use the much faster and simpler Fermat primality test.

Another approach is to use more refined notions of pseudoprimality, e.g. strong pseudoprimes or Euler-Jacobi pseudoprimes, for which there are no analogues of Carmichael numbers. This leads to probabilistic algorithms such as the Solovay-Strassen primality test and the Miller-Rabin primality test, which produce what are known as industrial-grade primes. Industrial-grade primes are integers for which primality has not been "certified" (i.e. rigorously proven), but have undergone a test such as the Miller-Rabin test which has nonzero, but arbitrarily low, probability of failure.

Frequency

There are infinitely many pseudoprimes to a given base (in fact, infinitely many Carmichael numbers), but they are rather rare. There are only 3 pseudo-primes to base 2 below 1000, and below a million there are only 245. Pseudoprimes to base 2 are called Poulet numbers or sometimes Sarrus numbers or Fermatians (sequence A001567 in OEIS). The factorizations of the 60 Poulet numbers and 13 Carmichael numbers (in bold) up to 60787 are in the below table.

Poulet 1 to 15
341	11 · 31
561	3 · 11 · 17
645	3 · 5 · 43
1105	5 · 13 · 17
1387	19 · 73
1729	7 · 13 · 19
1905	3 · 5 · 127
2047	23 · 89
2465	5 · 17 · 29
2701	37 · 73
2821	7 · 13 · 31
3277	29 · 113
4033	37 · 109
4369	17 · 257
4371	3 · 31 · 47

Poulet 16 to 30
4681	31 · 151
5461	43 · 127
6601	7 · 23 · 41
7957	73 · 109
8321	53 · 157
8481	3 · 11 · 257
8911	7 · 19 · 67
10261	31 · 331
10585	5 · 29 · 73
11305	5 · 7 · 17 · 19
12801	3 · 17 · 251
13741	7 · 13 · 151
13747	59 · 233
13981	11 · 31 · 41
14491	43 · 337

Poulet 31 to 45
15709	23 · 683
15841	7 · 31 · 73
16705	5 · 13 · 257
18705	3 · 5 · 29 · 43
18721	97 · 193
19951	71 · 281
23001	3 · 11 · 17 · 41
23377	97 · 241
25761	3 · 31 · 277
29341	13 · 37 · 61
30121	7 · 13 · 331
30889	17 · 23 · 79
31417	89 · 353
31609	73 · 433
31621	103 · 307

Poulet 46 to 60
33153	3 · 43 · 257
34945	5 · 29 · 241
35333	89 · 397
39865	5 · 7 · 17 · 67
41041	7 · 11 · 13 · 41
41665	5 · 13 · 641
42799	127 · 337
46657	13 · 37 · 97
49141	157 · 313
49981	151 · 331
52633	7 · 73 · 103
55245	3 · 5 · 29 · 127
57421	7 · 13 · 631
60701	101 · 601
60787	89 · 683

A Poulet number all of whose divisors d divide 2^d − 2 is called a super-Poulet number. There are infinitely many Poulet numbers which are not super-Poulet Numbers.

The smallest pseudoprime for each base a ≤ 200 is given in the following table; the colors mark the number of prime factors. Unlike in the definition at the start of the article, pseudoprimes below a are excluded in the table.

a	smallest p-p	a	smallest p-p	a	smallest p-p	a	smallest p-p
		51	65 = 5 · 13	101	175 = 5² · 7	151	175 = 5² · 7
2	341 = 11 · 31	52	85 = 5 · 17	102	133 = 7 · 19	152	153 = 3² · 17
3	91 = 7 · 13	53	65 = 5 · 13	103	133 = 7 · 19	153	209 = 11 · 19
4	15 = 3 · 5	54	55 = 5 · 11	104	105 = 3 · 5 · 7	154	155 = 5 · 31
5	124 = 2² · 31	55	63 = 3² · 7	105	451 = 11 · 41	155	231 = 3 · 7 · 11
6	35 = 5 · 7	56	57 = 3 · 19	106	133 = 7 · 19	156	217 = 7 · 31
7	25 = 5²	57	65 = 5 · 13	107	133 = 7 · 19	157	186 = 2 · 3 · 31
8	9 = 3²	58	133 = 7 · 19	108	341 = 11 · 31	158	159 = 3 · 53
9	28 = 2² · 7	59	87 = 3 · 29	109	117 = 3² · 13	159	247 = 13 · 19
10	33 = 3 · 11	60	341 = 11 · 31	110	111 = 3 · 37	160	161 = 7 · 23
11	15 = 3 · 5	61	91 = 7 · 13	111	190 = 2 · 5 · 19	161	190=2 · 5 · 19
12	65 = 5 · 13	62	63 = 3² · 7	112	121 = 11²	162	481 = 13 · 37
13	21 = 3 · 7	63	341 = 11 · 31	113	133 = 7 · 19	163	186 = 2 · 3 · 31
14	15 = 3 · 5	64	65 = 5 · 13	114	115 = 5 · 23	164	165 = 3 · 5 · 11
15	341 = 11 · 13	65	112 = 2⁴ · 7	115	133 = 7 · 19	165	172 = 2² · 43
16	51 = 3 · 17	66	91 = 7 · 13	116	117 = 3² · 13	166	301 = 7 · 43
17	45 = 3² · 5	67	85 = 5 · 17	117	145 = 5 · 29	167	231 = 3 · 7 · 11
18	25 = 5²	68	69 = 3 · 23	118	119 = 7 · 17	168	169 = 13²
19	45 = 3² · 5	69	85 = 5 · 17	119	177 = 3 · 59	169	231 = 3 · 7 · 11
20	21 = 3 · 7	70	169 = 13²	120	121 = 11²	170	171 = 3² · 19
21	55 = 5 · 11	71	105 = 3 · 5 · 7	121	133 = 7 · 19	171	215 = 5 · 43
22	69 = 3 · 23	72	85 = 5 · 17	122	123 = 3 · 41	172	247 = 13 · 19
23	33 = 3 · 11	73	111 = 3 · 37	123	217 = 7 · 31	173	205 = 5 · 41
24	25 = 5²	74	75 = 3 · 5²	124	125 = 5³	174	175 = 5² · 7
25	28 = 2² · 7	75	91 = 7 · 13	125	133 = 7 · 19	175	319 = 11 · 19
26	27 = 3³	76	77 = 7 · 11	126	247 = 13 · 19	176	177 = 3 · 59
27	65 = 5 · 13	77	247 = 13 · 19	127	153 = 3² · 17	177	196 = 2² · 7²
28	45 = 3² · 5	78	341 = 11 · 31	128	129 = 3 · 43	178	247 = 13 · 19
29	35 = 5 · 7	79	91 = 7 · 13	129	217 = 7 · 31	179	185 = 5 · 37
30	49 = 7²	80	81 = 3⁴	130	217 = 7 · 31	180	217 = 7 · 31
31	49 = 7²	81 = 3⁴	85 = 5 · 17	131	143 = 11 · 13	181	195 = 3 · 5 · 13
32	33 = 3 · 11	82	91 = 7 · 13	132	133 = 7 · 19	182	183 = 3 · 61
33	85 = 5 · 17	83	105 = 3 · 5 · 7	133	145 = 5 · 29	183	221 = 13 · 17
34	35 = 5 · 7	84	85 = 5 · 17	134	135 = 3³ · 5	184	185 = 5 · 37
35	51 = 3 · 17	85	129 = 3 · 43	135	221 = 13 · 17	185	217 = 7 · 31
36	91 = 7 · 13	86	87 = 3 · 29	136	265 = 5 · 53	186	187 = 11 · 17
37	45 = 3² · 5	87	91 = 7 · 13	137	148 = 2² · 37	187	217 = 7 · 31
38	39 = 3 · 13	88	91 = 7 · 13	138	259 = 7 · 37	188	189 = 3³ · 7
39	95 = 5 · 19	89	99 = 3² · 11	139	161 = 7 · 23	189	235 = 5 · 47
40	91 = 7 · 13	90	91 = 7 · 13	140	141 = 3 · 47	190	231 = 3 · 7 · 11
41	105 = 3 · 5 · 7	91	115 = 5 · 23	141	355 = 5 · 71	191	217 = 7 · 31
42	205 = 5 · 41	92	93 = 3 · 31	142	143 = 11 · 13	192	217 = 7 · 31
43	77 = 7 · 11	93	301 = 7 · 43	143	213 = 3 · 71	193	276 = 2² · 3 · 23
44	45 = 3² · 5	94	95 = 5 · 19	144	145 = 5 · 29	194	195 = 3 · 5 · 13
45	76 = 2² · 19	95	141 = 3 · 47	145	153 = 3² · 17	195	259 = 7 · 37
46	133 = 7 · 19	96	133 = 7 · 19	146	147 = 3 · 7²	196	205 = 5 · 41
47	65 = 5 · 13	97	105 = 3 · 5 · 7	147	169 = 13²	197	231 = 3 · 7 · 11
48	49 = 7²	98	99 = 3² · 11	148	231 = 3 · 7 · 11	198	247 = 13 · 19
49	66 = 2 · 3 · 11	99	145 = 5 · 29	149	175 = 5² · 7	199	225 = 3² · 5²
50	51 = 3 · 17	100	153 = 3² · 17	150	169 = 13²	200	201 = 3 · 67

References

^ Weisstein, Eric W., "Fermat Pseudoprime" from MathWorld.
^ Richard Crandall, Carl Pomerance: Prime Numbers – A Computational Perspective, Springer-Verlag, 2001, page 132, theorem 3.4.2.

External links

W.F. Galway's Database of Base-2 Pseudoprimes (including Strong Pseudoprimes and Carmichael numbers) up to 10^15

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Pseudoprime

Contents

Classes

Applications

Frequency

See also

References

External links