Computational challenges and solutions: Prime number generation for enhanced data security

• Published in: PloS one 2024-11, Vol.19 (11), p.e0311782
• Main Authors: Ezz-Eldien, Amal, Ezz, Mohamed, Alsirhani, Amjad, Mostafa, Ayman Mohamed, Alomari, Abdullah, Alserhani, Faeiz, Alshahrani, Mohammed Mujib
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptability; Algorithms; Chromosomes; Communication; Communications systems; Computer applications; Computer Security; Critical components; Cryptography; Data security; Data storage; Digital signatures; Distributed processing; Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276?-194? BC); Evaluation; Information storage and retrieval; Management; Mathematics; Methods; Number theory; Prime numbers; Security; System effectiveness
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311782

This paper addresses the computational methods and challenges associated with prime number generation, a critical component in encryption algorithms for ensuring data security. The generation of prime numbers efficiently is a critical challenge in various domains, including cryptography, number theory, and computer science. The quest to find more effective algorithms for prime number generation is driven by the increasing demand for secure communication and data storage and the need for efficient algorithms to solve complex mathematical problems. Our goal is to address this challenge by presenting two novel algorithms for generating prime numbers: one that generates primes up to a given limit and another that generates primes within a specified range. These innovative algorithms are founded on the formulas of odd-composed numbers, allowing them to achieve remarkable performance improvements compared to existing prime number generation algorithms. Our comprehensive experimental results reveal that our proposed algorithms outperform well-established prime number generation algorithms such as Miller-Rabin, Sieve of Atkin, Sieve of Eratosthenes, and Sieve of Sundaram regarding mean execution time. More notably, our algorithms exhibit the unique ability to provide prime numbers from range to range with a commendable performance. This substantial enhancement in performance and adaptability can significantly impact the effectiveness of various applications that depend on prime numbers, from cryptographic systems to distributed computing. By providing an efficient and flexible method for generating prime numbers, our proposed algorithms can develop more secure and reliable communication systems, enable faster computations in number theory, and support advanced computer science and mathematics research.