26 Nov
2017
26 Nov
'17
1:53 p.m.
I guess this is no worse than the first quantum computer which Shor-factored 15=3*5. At 12:40 PM 11/26/2017, Hans Havermann wrote:
Perhaps it was 2^18-1 ? 2^18+1 ?
No. It was indeed finding "the highest proper divisor" of 2^18 (i.e. 131072). The only arithmetic operations implemented in hardware were subtraction and negation. Divisions had to be implemented by repeated subtractions of the divisor. "The machine was not intended to be a practical computer but was instead designed as a testbed for the Williams tube, an early form of computer memory."
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=858
Alas, 2^18 is written there as 218.