COMP 446

TERM PROJECT

Factoring Large Integers

Using Pollard-rho Algorithm

Najeeb Ahmad

Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

 Problem Definition
●
Given an integer with two prime factors,
find the prime factors
– The integer can be arbitrarily large
 Motivation
●
Learn how an NP problem with no known
polynomial time algorithm can be practically
solved
●
Learn how to deal with arbitrarily large numbers
in computer programming
 Requirements
●
Part I: To implement Pollard-rho algorithm for
factoring small integers
●
Part II: To implement Pollard-rho algorithm for
arbitrarily factoring large integers
●
Discuss algorithm iterations for factoring some
large integers
●
Input/Output:
– Input: Number to be factorized
– Output: Two prime factors
 Factoring Algorithms
●
No polynomial time algorithm exists
●
Algorithms can broadly classified into
– Special purpose
●
Running time depends on smaller prime
factor
– General purpose
●
Running time depends on size of the integer
●
General Number Field Sieve (GNFS) has sub-
exponential time complexity
 Pollard-rho Algorithm
●
Basically a heuristic
– Neither running time, nor success
guaranteed
●
Effective for huge integers with at least one
small prime factor
 Pollard-rho Algorithm
●
Concepts Employed
– Birthday paradox: In a group of people,
probability of two people having same
birthday is unexpectedly high
– Floyd’s cycle algorithm: A hare and tortoise
moving in circle with hare twice as fast as
tortoise, will eventually meet up
 Pollard-rho Algorithm
Pollard-rho(N)
Randomly select x = 2 to N-1
Set y = x
Randomly select c = 1 to N-1
while(d == 1)
a = (x2+c) mod N // Tortoise move
b= (y2+c) mod N
b=(b2+c)mod N // Hare move
d=GCD(|b-a|, N)
x=a
y=b
factor1=d
factor2=N/d
print factor1, factor2
 Euclidean Algorithm for GCD
GCD(a, b)
if(b==0)
return a
GCD(b,a%b)
 Implementation
●
Implementation in C++
– GNU g++ compiler
– Ubuntu OS
●
GNU GMP big number library
 Time and Space Complexity
●
Time complexity
– For a given N, upto N1/4 iterations
– In terms of input length, O(2n/4)
– In terms of smaller factor, O(sqrt(smaller factor))
●
Space complexity
– O(1), fixed amount of memory required
 Results
●
Inputs
Ser Integer Factor 1 Factor 2

1 5352499 1237 4327

2 670726081 12347 54323
3 9449868410449 1234577 7654337
4 1082154235955237 12345701 87654337
5 121932633334857493 123456791 987654323
6 13565005454706599869 1234567907 10987654367
7 1049178520185305599951 1049179854847 999998727899999
445153
8 6863443896321848516323 8284590452353 8284590452353
6609
9 6913224604942703086730 777737777777777 888888877777777
95061729
 Results
●
Iterations
Ser Trial Division iterations Pollard Rho Max Min iterations saved
(t) iterations (p) (t-p)
1 1237 117 1120
2 12347 404 11943
3 1234577 3882 1230695
4 12345701 10651 12335050
5 123456791 37674 123419117
6 1234567907 121170 12344446737
7 104917985484847 3081552 1049176773295
8 8284590452353 4017582 8284586434771
9 777737777777777 57635844 777737720141933
 Results
●
Iterations
Ser Pollard Rho Average Sqrt (smaller
iterations factor) Approx.
1 30 35
2 98 111
3 1035 1111
4 3368 3513
5 10181 11111
6 32910 35136
7 1048082 1024294
8 2420429 2878296
9 24681730 27887950
Results
 Results
●
Test on Fermat’s 8th number
– 115792089237316195423570985008687907
853269984665640564039457584007913129
639937
– Factor 1=1238926361552897
– Factor 2 =
934616397153579777691635581996068965
84051237541638188580280321
●
Took 6 minutes, 10 seconds on Intel I7 @2.60
GHz with 8GB RAM
●
35370057 iterations, just over 35198385
Demo and Q&A