From: paul@poboy.b17c.ingr.com (Paul Robichaux)
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 94 09:10:36 PST
To: bshantz@spry.com
Subject: Re: Pentium FDIV
In-Reply-To: <199412291643.IAA25785@homer.spry.com>
Message-ID: <199412291710.AA05400@poboy.b17c.ingr.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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> Haven't seen too much discussion of this and how it would affect crypto in 
> general.  Would the FDIV problem cause any problems when looking at large 
> prime numbers?  Actually, let me rephrase that, would it affect determining 
> if a large number is prime?  Floating point errors can be so much fun.

I don't know how you missed it; it was certainly here. Let me summarize:

	- crypto typically uses integers
	- RSA crypto uses large integers
	- the Pentium FDIV bug only affects floats

- -Paul

- -- 
Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG       | Good software engineering doesn't reduce the 
perobich@ingr.com            | amount of work you put into a product; it just 
Not speaking for Intergraph. | redistributes it differently.
		  ### http://www.intergraph.com ###

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