Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class • Hacker News Board

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#221

Post by SilasX » Wed, May 05, 2021, 3:42 PM UTC

zsmi wrote: post #211

SilasX wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hate to be the choosing beggar, and I appreciate all the answers, but ... everyone is answering about how long that 70 digit job would take now, when what I meant was, how big a number could you factor “overnight” with similar cost hardware.

Not exactly the same, but close. https://github.com/eniac/faas The purpose of the FaaS (Factoring as a Service) project is to demonstrate that 512-bit integers can be factored in only a few hours, for less than $100 of compute time in a public cloud environment. 512b = 155 decimal digits.

Cool, thanks!

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#222

Post by WalterBright » Wed, May 05, 2021, 7:36 PM UTC

ngcc_hk wrote: post #215

WalterBright wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same time frame, I worked at Boeing doing design work on the 757. I didn't know how to do complex numbers using drafting tools, but I knew how to use a computer. The only computer in the building was an '11 in a special locked room with raised floor and A/C. It was under the control of Boeing Computer Services, a totally separate division from Boeing Commercial Airplane Company, which I worked for. Anyhow, I b…

I were tasked to migrate a pool of wang ladies to wang pc. It was horror (as the wang pc is not as good as their wang processor). The meeting turned into a nightmare for me. As some of these are also typist for all the top guys in the group the wang pc does not end up well. I survived. But still have dark feeling of a room full of wang ladies.

> But still have dark feeling of a room full of wang ladies.

They all either ignored me or were nice to me.

The interesting thing is the supervisor, who sat facing the workers like a teacher in a classroom. When she found I could use the Wang as well as anyone by just looking at the manual for a few minutes, she realized that her fiefdom was doomed. Her moat had been the 2 week training course.

I kind of felt sorry for her.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#223

Post by todd8 » Thu, May 06, 2021, 2:26 AM UTC

Back in 1969 I was taking a number theory class, and I remember being taught that it was the purest of pure math subjects with (essentially) no application. It was simply a subject with beautiful results and beautiful proofs—good training for a budding mathematician.

Ironically, now the results of number theory are an important foundation for essential computer science.

Re: Back in 1993, I was taking a number theory class

#224

Post by Tepix » Thu, May 06, 2021, 12:38 PM UTC

withinboredom wrote: post #161

Tepix wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I setup a MAC based internet filter at home, secretly hoping my kids will figure out how to bypass it.

Most OSs don’t let you change a WiFi’s MAC address these days. Sometimes even the hardware doesn’t support it.

Really? I think you can change your MAC in Windows 10, macOS and Linux. What OSs do you have in mind?