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arXiv · 1301.5293

Approximately counting semismooth integers

Eric Bach·Jonathan Sorenson
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Abstract

An integer $n$ is $(y,z)$-semismooth if $n=pm$ where $m$ is an integer with all prime divisors $\le y$ and $p$ is 1 or a prime $\le z$. arge quantities of semismooth integers are utilized in modern integer factoring algorithms, such as the number field sieve, that incorporate the so-called large prime variant. Thus, it is useful for factoring practitioners to be able to estimate the value of $\Psi(x,y,z)$, the number of $(y,z)$-semismooth integers up to $x$, so that they can better set algorithm parameters and minimize running times, which could be weeks or months on a cluster supercomputer. In this paper, we explore several algorithms to approximate $\Psi(x,y,z)$ using a generalization of Buchstab's identity with numeric integration.

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Eric Bach, Jonathan Sorenson. 2013-01-22. Approximately counting semismooth integers. https://doi.org/10.1145/2465506.2465933

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