Solved cryptogram
Multiplying two big primes is easy, and undoing the multiplication is hard enough to hide a secret.
Mathematics Facts, sourced to Wolfram MathWorld.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
This asymmetry is what public key cryptography rests on. Anyone can be handed the product and use it to lock a message, while only the holder of the two factors can unlock one. Multiplying two numbers of a few hundred digits takes a moment; splitting the product back apart has no method fast enough to finish in a human lifetime. No one has proved that a fast method cannot exist, which is the uncomfortable part.
The claim comes from Wolfram MathWorld.
- SourceWolfram MathWorld
- CollectionMathematics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length81 letters, 19 unique
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