Pseudoprime

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What Does Pseudoprime Mean?

A pseudoprime number is a probable prime number that might
actually be a composite number rather than an actual prime. Pseudoprimes are useful
in public key cryptography and other aspects of IT. IT professionals might talk
about a pseudoprime as a number that may or may not be a true prime, but that
could be brought up by random probable prime number generators.

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Techopedia Explains Pseudoprime

The use of pseudoprime identifiers sometimes has to do with the cost of prime factoring for large numbers. Another use of the pseudoprime theory is in hacking philosophy. Here, an individual programmer might suggest that pseudoprimes are “almost as good” as true primes, because they stand a good chance of being actual primes, even though there is a chance that a single result might not be a true prime. Mathematicians can develop sophisticated algorithms to show whether a pseudoprime is actually a prime number or not.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.