4
$\begingroup$

Example: 72 has the following divisors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 72. The median (middle) divisors are 8 and 9. Provided we already have the prime factors of a number x, what would be an algorithm to find these two divisors? What would be the complexity of that algorithm? x would typically be a number with lots of prime factors, e.g. "Highly composite numbers".

$\endgroup$
2
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ This is effectively a multiplicative version of partition problem, so I doubt a particularly efficient algorithm exists. Since primes are relatively dense, one may be able to prove that this problem is NP-hard. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 24 at 11:27
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ See mathoverflow.net/q/419722 for a possible ILP-based approach and discussion of its shortcomings. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 24 at 11:49

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.