In mathematics, the rational sieve is a general algorithm for factoring integers into prime factors. It is essentially a special case of the general number field sieve, and while it is far less efficient than the general algorithm, it is conceptually far simpler. So while it is rather useless as a practical factoring algorithm, it is a helpful first step for those trying to understand how the general number field sieve works.
Read more about Rational Sieve: Method, Example, Limitations of The Algorithm, References
Famous quotes containing the words rational and/or sieve:
“Since the Greeks, Western man has believed that Being, all Being, is intelligible, that there is a reason for everything ... and that the cosmos is, finally, intelligible. The Oriental, on the other hand, has accepted his existence within a universe that would appear to be meaningless, to the rational Western mind, and has lived with this meaninglessness. Hence the artistic form that seems natural to the Oriental is one that is just as formless or formal, as irrational, as life itself.”
—William Barrett (b. 1913)
“It’s like pushing marbles through a sieve. It means the sieve will never be the same again.”
—Before the 1972 Democratic Convention in Miami. As quoted in Crazy Salad, ch. 6, by Nora Ephron (1972)