Frequently Asked Questions

For those who do not like to solve the nonlinear equation if they submit their first solution and want to calculate the current best record, here is a table of Q=(submitted/best) as a function of the score. You can also get a more detailed table in PDF by clicking here

Score	Q
0.00	0.000000
0.01	0.014286
0.02	0.028571
0.03	0.042857
0.04	0.057143
0.05	0.071429
0.06	0.085714
0.07	0.100000
0.08	0.114286
0.09	0.128571
0.10	0.142857
0.11	0.157143
0.12	0.171429
0.13	0.185714
0.14	0.200000
0.15	0.214286
0.16	0.228571
0.17	0.242857
0.18	0.257143
0.19	0.271429
0.20	0.285714
0.21	0.300000
0.22	0.314286
0.23	0.328571
0.24	0.342857
0.25	0.357143
0.26	0.371429
0.27	0.385714
0.28	0.400000
0.29	0.414286
0.30	0.428571
0.31	0.442857
0.32	0.457142
0.33	0.471428
0.34	0.485713
0.35	0.499998
0.36	0.514282
0.37	0.528566
0.38	0.542849
0.39	0.557131
0.40	0.571410
0.41	0.585687
0.42	0.599960
0.43	0.614227
0.44	0.628487
0.45	0.642736
0.46	0.656971
0.47	0.671186
0.48	0.685376
0.49	0.699530
0.50	0.713639
0.51	0.727688
0.52	0.741660
0.53	0.755532
0.54	0.769279
0.55	0.782870
0.56	0.796269
0.57	0.809435
0.58	0.822325
0.59	0.834895
0.60	0.847100
0.61	0.858898
0.62	0.870253
0.63	0.881137
0.64	0.891530
0.65	0.901422
0.66	0.910811
0.67	0.919705
0.68	0.928115
0.69	0.936056
0.70	0.943542
0.71	0.950578
0.72	0.957153
0.73	0.963229
0.74	0.968743
0.75	0.973622
0.76	0.977826
0.77	0.981376
0.78	0.984345
0.79	0.986832
0.80	0.988932
0.81	0.990725
0.82	0.992272
0.83	0.993618
0.84	0.994784
0.85	0.995778
0.86	0.996597
0.87	0.997249
0.88	0.997759
0.89	0.998161
0.90	0.998483
0.91	0.998747
0.92	0.998968
0.93	0.999157
0.94	0.999321
0.95	0.999465
0.96	0.999594
0.97	0.999710
0.98	0.999815
0.99	0.999911
1.00	1.000000

Can I submit known polynomials ?
Yes !
Here are the current best published records:

1) 44546738095860 n + 56211383760397 (23 primes, Frind)
2) 36 n² - 810 n + 2753 (45 primes, Ruby)
3) 3 n³ - 183 n² + 3318 n - 18757 (43 primes, Ruiz)
4) n⁴ - 104 n³ + 4096 n² - 72027 n + 475093 (35 primes, Mark Beyleveld)

You are allowed to submit any previously known result. There is a prize if you improve the known records.
Here are several links containing solutions:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Prime-GeneratingPolynomial.html
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeArithmeticProgression.html
http://www.primepuzzles.net/puzzles/puzz_232.htm
http://www.primepuzzles.net/problems/prob_012.htm

As a result of this contest, the items here and many of the books within the references will need to be changed.

Do we have to submit 30 solutions ?
No, you can simply submit 10 polynomials, since they'll be scored for every category.

What does mean Q16, Q128 and Q1024 ?
It's Q¹⁶, Q¹²⁸ and Q¹⁰²⁴, or Q at the power 16, Q at the power 128, Q at the power 1024.
In most programming languages, you can compute this as pow(Q,16).

Are you aware that it is possible to calculate the value of the top score from the information given when you improve one of your results ?
Yes, and this is on purpose ! It's fine as long as you keep this for yourself.
Please, do not publish any result, information or solution.
Note that the best results are improved regularly, so you may only know the best result of a given N at a given moment.
What is the submission format ?
Suppose that you would like to submit 4.x³+1.
You have to submit 4 0 0 1
Note that the first coefficient cannot be zero.
You can also submit the above sequence as 1 5 33 109

Where can I find a primality test library ?
Here are several links:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlZimmermannsProgrammingContests/files/ (check second Gary Hertel's submission)
http://www.swox.com/gmp/ (library for Linux)
http://fp.gladman.plus.com/computing/gmp4win.htm (library for Windows)
http://www.cs.nyu.edu/exact/core/gmp/ (library for Windows)

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