  
  [1X2 The General Factorization Routine[0X
  
  
  [1X2.1 The method for [10XFactors[1X[0X
  
  The  [5XFactInt[0m  package provides a better method for the operation [10XFactors[0m for
  integer arguments, which supersedes the one included in the [5XGAP[0m Library:
  
  [1X2.1-1 Factors[0m
  
  [2X> Factors( [0X[3Xn[0X[2X ) _______________________________________________________[0Xmethod
  [6XReturns:[0X  A sorted list of the prime factors of [3Xn[0m.
  
  The  returned  factors pass the built-in probabilistic primality test of [5XGAP[0m
  ([10XIsProbablyPrimeInt[0m,  Baillie-PSW  Primality  Test;  see  the  [5XGAP[0m Reference
  Manual).  If  the  method  fails to compute the prime factorization of [3Xn[0m, an
  error  is  signalled.  The  same  holds for all other factorization routines
  provided   by   this  package.  It  follows  a  rough  description  how  the
  factorization method works:
  
  First of all, the method checks whether n = b^k pm 1 for some b, k and looks
  for factors corresponding to polynomial factors of x^k pm 1. Provided that b
  and  k  are  not too large, the factors that do not correspond to polynomial
  factors  are  taken  from Richard P. Brent's Factor Tables [Bre04]. The code
  for accessing these tables has been contributed by Frank Lübeck.
  
  Then  the  method  uses  trial  division  and  a number of cheap methods for
  various  common special cases. After the small and other "easy" factors have
  been  found  this  way, [5XFactInt[0m's method searches for "medium-sized" factors
  using  Pollard's  Rho  (by  the  library  function  [10XFactorsRho[0m,  see the [5XGAP[0m
  Reference Manual), Pollard's p-1 (see [2XFactorsPminus1[0m ([14X3.2-1[0m)), Williams' p+1
  (see [2XFactorsPplus1[0m   ([14X3.3-1[0m))   and   the   Elliptic   Curves  Method  (ECM,
  see [2XFactorsECM[0m ([14X3.4-1[0m)) in this order.
  
  If  there  is  still an unfactored part remaining after that, it is factored
  using   the  Multiple  Polynomial  Quadratic  Sieve  (MPQS,  see [2XFactorsMPQS[0m
  ([14X3.6-1[0m)).
  
  The following options are interpreted:
  
  [8X[3XTDHints[0m[8X[0m
        A  list  of  additional trial divisors. This is useful only if certain
        primes p  are  expected  to  divide  n  with probability significantly
        larger than frac1p.
  
  [8X[3XRhoSteps[0m[8X[0m
        The number of steps for Pollard's Rho.
  
  [8X[3XRhoCluster[0m[8X[0m
        The number of steps between two gcd computations in Pollard's Rho.
  
  [8X[3XPminus1Limit1[0m[8X / [3XPminus1Limit2[0m[8X[0m
        The  first- / second stage limit for Pollard's p-1 (see [2XFactorsPminus1[0m
        ([14X3.2-1[0m)).
  
  [8X[3XPplus1Residues[0m[8X[0m
        The number of residues to be tried by Williams' p+1 (see [2XFactorsPplus1[0m
        ([14X3.3-1[0m)).
  
  [8X[3XPplus1Limit1[0m[8X / [3XPplus1Limit2[0m[8X[0m
        The  first-  / second stage limit for Williams' p+1 (see [2XFactorsPplus1[0m
        ([14X3.3-1[0m)).
  
  [8X[3XECMCurves[0m[8X[0m
        The  number  of  elliptic  curves  to  be tried by the Elliptic Curves
        Method  (ECM)  (see [2XFactorsECM[0m  ([14X3.4-1[0m)).  Also admissible: a function
        that  takes the number n to be factored as an argument and returns the
        desired number of curves to be tried.
  
  [8X[3XECMLimit1[0m[8X / [3XECMLimit2[0m[8X[0m
        The  initial  first-  /  second  stage  limit  for ECM (see [2XFactorsECM[0m
        ([14X3.4-1[0m)).
  
  [8X[3XECMDelta[0m[8X[0m
        The  increment  per curve for the first stage limit in ECM. The second
        stage limit is adjusted appropriately (see [2XFactorsECM[0m ([14X3.4-1[0m)).
  
  [8X[3XECMDeterministic[0m[8X[0m
        If  true,  ECM  chooses  its curves deterministically, i.e. repeatable
        (see [2XFactorsECM[0m ([14X3.4-1[0m)).
  
  [8X[3XFBMethod[0m[8X[0m
        Specifies  which  of  the factor base methods should be used to do the
        "hard    work".    Currently    implemented:    [10X"CFRAC"[0m   and   [10X"MPQS"[0m
        (see [2XFactorsCFRAC[0m   ([14X3.5-1[0m)  and [2XFactorsMPQS[0m  ([14X3.6-1[0m),  respectively).
        Default: [10X"MPQS"[0m.
  
  For  the  use of the [5XGAP[0m Options Stack, see Chapter [13XOptions Stack[0m in the [5XGAP[0m
  Reference Manual.
  
  Setting  [3XRhoSteps[0m, [3XPminus1Limit1[0m, [3XPplus1Residues[0m, [3XPplus1Limit1[0m, [3XECMCurves[0m or
  [3XECMLimit1[0m  equal  to  zero  switches  the  respective method off. The method
  chooses  defaults  for  all option values that are not explicitly set by the
  user.  The  option  values  are  also  interpreted  by  the routines for the
  particular factorization methods described in the next chapter.
  
  [4X---------------------------  Example  ----------------------------[0X
    [4X[0X
    [4Xgap> Factors( Factorial(44) + 1 );[0X
    [4X[ 694763, 9245226412016162109253, 413852053257739876455072359 ][0X
    [4Xgap> Factors( 2^997 - 1 );[0X
    [4X[ 167560816514084819488737767976263150405095191554732902607, [0X
    [4X  79934306053602222928609369601238840619880168466272137576868879760059\[0X
    [4X3002563860297371289151859287894468775962208410650878341385577817736702\[0X
    [4X2158878920741413700868182301410439178049533828082651513160945607018874\[0X
    [4X830040978453228378816647358334681553 ][0X
    [4X[0X
  [4X------------------------------------------------------------------[0X
  
  The  above  method  for  [10XFactors[0m  calls the following function, which is the
  actual "working horse" of this package:
  
  [1X2.1-2 FactInt[0m
  
  [2X> FactInt( [0X[3Xn[0X[2X ) _____________________________________________________[0Xfunction
  [6XReturns:[0X  A  list of two lists, where the first list contains the determined
            prime  factors  of [3Xn[0m  and  the  second list contains the remaining
            unfactored parts of [3Xn[0m, if there are any.
  
  This function interprets all options which are interpreted by the method for
  [10XFactors[0m  described  above.  In addition, it interprets the options [3Xcheap[0m and
  [3XFactIntPartial[0m. If the option [3Xcheap[0m is set, only usually cheap factorization
  attempts  are  made.  If the option [3XFactIntPartial[0m is set, the factorization
  process  is  stopped  before  invoking  the (usually time-consuming) MPQS or
  CFRAC,  if the number of digits of the remaining unfactored part exceeds the
  bound passed as option value [3XMPQSLimit[0m or [3XCFRACLimit[0m, respectively.
  
  [10XFactors([3Xn[0m[10X)[0m        is       equivalent       to       [10XFactInt([3Xn[0m[10X:[3Xcheap[0m[10X:=false,
  [3XFactIntPartial[0m[10X:=false)[1][0m.
  
  [4X---------------------------  Example  ----------------------------[0X
    [4X[0X
    [4Xgap> FactInt( Factorial(300) + 1 : cheap );[0X
    [4X[ [ 461, 259856122109, 995121825812791, 3909669044842609, [0X
    [4X      4220826953750952739, 14841043839896940772689086214475144339 ], [0X
    [4X  [ 104831288231765723173983836560438594053336296629073932563520618687\[0X
    [4X9287645058010688827246061541065631119345674081834085960064144597037243\[0X
    [4X9235869682208979384309498719255615067943353399357029226058930732298505\[0X
    [4X5816977495398426741656633461747046623641451042655247093315505417820370\[0X
    [4X9451745871701742000546384614472756584182478531880962594857275869690727\[0X
    [4X9733563594352516014206081210368516157890709802912711149521530885498556\[0X
    [4X1244667790208245620301404499928532222524585946881528337257061789593197\[0X
    [4X99211283640357942345263781351 ] ][0X
    [4X[0X
  [4X------------------------------------------------------------------[0X
  
  
  [1X2.2 Getting information about the factoring process[0X
  
  Optionally,  the  [5XFactInt[0m  package prints information on the progress of the
  factorization process:
  
  [1X2.2-1 InfoFactInt[0m
  
  [2X> InfoFactInt_____________________________________________________[0Xinfo class
  [2X> FactIntInfo( [0X[3Xlevel[0X[2X ) _____________________________________________[0Xfunction
  
  This Info class allows to monitor what happens during the factoring process.
  
  If  [10XInfoLevel(InfoFactInt)  =  1[0m, then basic information about the factoring
  techniques   used   is  displayed.  If  this  InfoLevel  has  value 2,  then
  additionally all "relevant" steps in the factoring algorithms are mentioned.
  If  it  is  set equal to 3, then large amounts of details of the progress of
  the factoring process are shown.
  
  Enter [10XFactIntInfo([3Xlevel[0m[10X)[0m to set the [10XInfoLevel[0m of [10XInfoFactInt[0m to the positive
  integer    [3Xlevel[0m.    The   call   [10XFactIntInfo([3Xlevel[0m[10X);[0m   is   equivalent   to
  [10XSetInfoLevel(InfoFactInt,[3Xlevel[0m[10X);[0m.
  
  The  informational  output  is  usually  not  literally  the  same  in  each
  factorization  attempt  to  a  given  integer  with  given parameters. For a
  description  of  the  Info  mechanism, see Section [13XInfo Functions[0m in the [5XGAP[0m
  Reference Manual.
  
