Quantum physics offers new way to factor numbers
Monday, November 28, 2016 - 09:31
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org)—Any number can, in theory, be written as the product of prime numbers. For small numbers, this is easy (for example, the prime factors of 12 are 2, 2, and 3), but for large numbers, prime factorization becomes extremely difficult—so difficult that many of today's cryptography algorithms rely on the complexity of the prime factorization of numbers with hundreds of digits to keep private information secure.