Trial division

Trial division is the most laborious but easiest to understand of the integer factorization algorithms. The essential idea behind trial division tests to see if an integer n, the integer to be factored, can be divided by each number in turn that is less than the square root of n. For example, for the integer n = 12, the only numbers that divide it are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. Selecting only the largest powers of primes in this list gives that 12 = 3 × 4 = 3 × 22.

This article is about the mathematical algorithm. For the judicial chamber of the International Criminal Court, see Judges of the International Criminal Court.

Trial division was first described by Fibonacci in his book Liber Abaci (1202).

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