Primes

Divisibility, Primes, and the Euclidean Algorithm

Section 2.2 of Computational Number Theory and Modern Cryptography by Song Y. Yan (ISBN 978-1-118-18858-3) is the oldest material in the book, and it is still the part your laptop uses. Divisibility, primes, gcd, Euclid. Yan says people have studied this for at least 3000 years. The Greeks already cared about even and odd, perfect numbers, amicable numbers, and primes. Some of those questions are still open. That is wild.

What Number Theory Is Actually About

Chapter 1 of Computational Number Theory and Modern Cryptography is orientation week. Song Y. Yan, ISBN 978-1-118-18858-3, starts with integers. Not apps. Not HTTPS. Integers. I rolled my eyes, then I remembered this 2013 Wiley book is trying to show why those integers are the internet’s load-bearing walls.