David Rolfe
Wheels, Primes and Factors...Passing through the Integers
Writing a computer program that finds all the primes less than some value is a common computer science exercise. In my talk I will discuss an interesting algorithm for doing this. This algorithm is very simple and could easily be implemented in hardware. In addition to finding all the primes less than some value, the program finds, for a given integer N, all N mod p where p<N and p is prime. Finally the algorithm suggests a way of thinking about the distribution of primes and how the pattern is not cyclic and is in some sense "finitely" complex.
Audience:
The talk will be accessible to most mathematics undergrads. A knowledge of the integers mod n and some programming/computer science background would be helpful.
Biographical Note:
Dave Rolfe is retired IBM programmer who has received around 20 patents over the years, largely in the area of parallel computing. He has done some interesting work in the areas of interprocess communication, message routing and deadlock avoidance in "hypercube like" connection topologies and the "task graph mapping problem". He is not a mathematician, but occasionally gets hooked by problems and even less often actually solves them. In addition to technical interests he also writes poetry and is currently the MC at a monthly reading called "Writers Reading Their Work" held at the local Unitarian congregation in Kingston NY.
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