Factoring Numbers on the Massively Parallel Computer

Abstract

The Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) is a high speed parallel bit processor which has been designed and built by Goodyear Aeronautics for NASA. It has recently been installed at Goddard Space Flight center at Greenbelt, MD and is to be primarily used as an image processor for satellite communication. It is ideally suited for an implementation of the continued fraction factoring algorithm of Micheal Morrison and John Brillhart [2] and this paper will first describe the MPP computer and its associated software, then present the proposed implementation of the continued fraction algorithm, and finally present an optimization procedure and a running time analysis which will provide some estimates as to the expected execution time for factoring various size numbers.