Re: CVS commit: src/games/factor

[Dennis den Brok <d.den.brok%uni-bonn.de@localhost>]

On 2010-05-16, David Laight <david%l8s.co.uk@localhost> wrote:
> The definition of primality gets taken from that of the positive (or
> non-negative integers) and applied more generally to other mathematical
> objects - in particular 'fields'.
> In field theory you need a definition that applies to any field, not
> just the integers.
> From memory - it is a long time since I did any field theory - a field
> has a single 'zero', and possibly many 'units' (I think units are
> defined as values that multiplying by doesn't change the magnitude).
> For the field 'Z' (all the integers) the units are 1 and -1, and 
> the mathematical definition of primality makes 'prime * unit' prime.

Z is not a field, and in a field there are no prime elements at all.

Regards,

Dennis den Brok