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The quadratic sieve attempts to find pairs of integers x and y(x) (where y(x) is a function of x) satisfying a much weaker condition than x 2 ≡ y 2 (mod n). It selects a set of primes called the factor base , and attempts to find x such that the least absolute remainder of y ( x ) = x 2 mod n factorizes completely over the factor base.
The principle of the number field sieve (both special and general) can be understood as an improvement to the simpler rational sieve or quadratic sieve. When using such algorithms to factor a large number n, it is necessary to search for smooth numbers (i.e. numbers with small prime factors) of order n 1/2.
The primary improvement that quadratic sieve makes over Fermat's factorization method is that instead of simply finding a square in the sequence of , it finds a subset of elements of this sequence whose product is a square, and it does this in a highly efficient manner.
The sieve methods discussed in this article are not closely related to the integer factorization sieve methods such as the quadratic sieve and the general number field sieve. Those factorization methods use the idea of the sieve of Eratosthenes to determine efficiently which members of a list of numbers can be completely factored into small primes.
The second-fastest is the multiple polynomial quadratic sieve, and the fastest is the general number field sieve. The Lenstra elliptic-curve factorization is named after Hendrik Lenstra . Practically speaking, ECM is considered a special-purpose factoring algorithm, as it is most suitable for finding small factors.
We can then factor n = x 2 − y 2 = (x + y)(x − y). This algorithm is slow in practice because we need to search many such numbers, and only a few satisfy the equation. However, n may also be factored if we can satisfy the weaker congruence of squares conditions: ()
We can find quadratic residues or verify them using the above formula. To test if 2 is a quadratic residue modulo 17, we calculate 2 (17 − 1)/2 = 2 8 ≡ 1 (mod 17), so it is a quadratic residue. To test if 3 is a quadratic residue modulo 17, we calculate 3 (17 − 1)/2 = 3 8 ≡ 16 ≡ −1 (mod 17), so it is not a quadratic residue.
Dixon's method replaces the condition "is the square of an integer" with the much weaker one "has only small prime factors"; for example, there are 292 squares smaller than 84923; 662 numbers smaller than 84923 whose prime factors are only 2,3,5 or 7; and 4767 whose prime factors are all less than 30.