pseudoprime
mathematics
Also known as: Fermat pseudoprime
- Related Topics:
- composite number
pseudoprime, a composite, or nonprime, number n that fulfills a mathematical condition that most other composite numbers fail. The best-known of these numbers are the Fermat pseudoprimes. In 1640 French mathematician Pierre de Fermat first asserted “Fermat’s Little Theorem,” also known as Fermat’s primality test, which states that for any prime number p and any integer a such that p does not divide a (in this case, the pair are called relatively prime), p divides exactly into ap − a. Although a number n that does not divide exactly into an − a for some a must be a composite ...(100 of 256 words)