Pollard's rho algorithm

This article is about the integer factorization algorithm. For the discrete logarithm algorithm, see Pollard's rho algorithm for logarithms.

Pollard's rho algorithm is an algorithm for integer factorization. It was invented by John Pollard in 1975.[1] It uses only a small amount of space, and its expected running time is proportional to the square root of the smallest prime factor of the composite number being factorized.

  1. ^ Pollard, J. M. (1975). "A Monte Carlo method for factorization". BIT Numerical Mathematics. 15 (3): 331–334. doi:10.1007/bf01933667. S2CID 122775546.