Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!brl-smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: Fermat's Last Theorem apparently proven
Message-ID: <7449@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: 13 Mar 88 08:30:02 GMT
References: <977@thumper.bellcore.com> <7440@brl-smoke.ARPA> <26797@linus.UUCP>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 12

In article <26797@linus.UUCP> bs@linus.UUCP (Robert D. Silverman) writes:
-In article <7440@brl-smoke.ARPA> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>) writes:
-:In article <977@thumper.bellcore.com> karn@thumper.bellcore.com (Phil R. Karn) writes:
-:>I wonder what implications this might have for cryptography?
-:Probably just as many as a proof of the Riemann hypothesis.
-A proof of the RH would give important cryptographic results.
-It would mean a fast, deterministic Polynomial Time prime proving algorithm.

Something is wrong with this reasoning, Bob.  Since practically everyone
believes the RH is true, why not assume it is and produce the Polynomial-
Time algorithm you mention.  What advantage would a formal proof of RH
(that perhaps few could understand anyway) bring to that effort?