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Explaining the wheel sieve

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Summary

In a previous paper, an algorithm was presented for the classical problem of finding all prime numbers up to a given limit. The algorithm was derived therein by transforming a prior algorithm in accordance with some essentially ad hoc observations on the problem.

The present paper complements the former by developing a simple mathematical framework, which leads to a smoother and more insightful derivation of the new algorithm, and which may be of independent interest to the number theorist.

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A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the fourth Australian Computer Science Conference, Brisbane, 1981

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Pritchard, P. Explaining the wheel sieve. Acta Informatica 17, 477–485 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264164

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264164

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