2013-08-31, 13:17
How to Create Codes That Even the NSA Can't Break
In a previous post I described mathematicians' ongoing search for key properties of prime numbers. That effort may seem to belong entirely within the realm of pure mathematics; but surprisingly, the importance of primes goes far beyond the abstruse obsessions of ivory-tower mathematicians. In fact, the use of prime numbers underlies some of the most dramatic events in the news these past weeks: the story behind Edward Snowden's revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) is snooping on
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DiscoverT...k1-7IclmA/
In a previous post I described mathematicians' ongoing search for key properties of prime numbers. That effort may seem to belong entirely within the realm of pure mathematics; but surprisingly, the importance of primes goes far beyond the abstruse obsessions of ivory-tower mathematicians. In fact, the use of prime numbers underlies some of the most dramatic events in the news these past weeks: the story behind Edward Snowden's revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) is snooping on
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DiscoverT...k1-7IclmA/