In their defense, they were probably targeting the Mersenne prime 2^2 - 1 and just made a typo.
reply> In their defense, they were probably targeting the Mersenne prime 2^2 - 1 and just made a typo.
replyThere are two hard problems in computer science: naming things, cache invalidation, and off-by-one errors.
Two, and only two?
replyWell:
reply There are actually only two hard problems in computer science:
0) Cache invalidation
1) Naming things
4) Asynchronous callbacks
2) Off-by-one errors
3) Scope creep
6) Bounds checking
You have almost understood the joke.
replytwo is off-by-one from three btw
reply[dead]
replyok, it's joke. but for those who don't get it: elliptic curves don't need primes
replyIt’s really impressive no one caught their three previous private key values
replyI suspect they did but it wasn't publicised.
replyThey should have gone with 57. Everyone knows it's prime.
replyI wonder if anyone wants to over-analyze this joke to come up with the best candidates for the number? 57 falls too easily to the quick divisibility by 3 trick, IMO. (I realize over-analyzing jokes always makes them unfunny but we can pick the best number here and nobody has to know).
replyMe! I'm in!
replyMost-nearly-prime number under 100 is.... 91.
13 x 7. You've either memorized that or you're going to have fun deciding it's not prime. And if you did times tables up to 13, congratulations, you're special.
I think 91 is a strong contender. Sejje has a way of working it out, but of course any small non-prime will have some trick to it.
reply7 is an easy check, not because i did them up to 13.
replybecause 10x7 = 70, i'm left with 21. everyone knows 21 is divisible by 7.
Alex? You're alive after all?
replyreply
It's been a while since this one popped up.
It's surprising how many of those doodles are surviving the test if times, in the midst unexpected ways
replyit doesn't have to be and it actually never is: this isn't RSA, it's an elliptic curve algorithm. if you'd have read the article, you'd have understood this
replyThe number 4 is very famous.
replyHey, that's the same combination I have on my luggage!
replyGood job the Earth doesn't have an air shield protected by this byte or we'd be Skroob'd.
reply