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Excludent Factorization Method


Also known as the difference of squares method. It was first used by Fermat and improved by Gauss. Gauss looked for integers x and y satisfying

 y^2=x^2-N (mod E)

for various moduli E. This allowed the exclusion of many potential factors. This method works best when factors are of approximately the same size, so it is sometimes better to attempt mN for some suitably chosen value of m.


See also

Prime Factorization Algorithms

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Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Excludent Factorization Method." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ExcludentFactorizationMethod.html

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