matlab (version 1.0.2)

primes: MATLAB primes function

Description

Generate a list of prime numbers.

Usage

primes(n)

Arguments

n

scalar numeric specifying largest prime number desired.

Value

Returns numeric vector containing prime numbers less than or equal to argument n.

Details

Generates the list of prime numbers less than or equal to n using a variant of the basic "Sieve of Eratosthenes" algorithm. This approach is reasonably fast, but requires a copious amount of memory when n is large. A prime number is one that has no other factors other than 1 and itself.

See Also

isprime, factors

Examples

primes(1000)
length(primes(1e6))    #   78498 prime numbers less than one million
## Not run: 
#   length(primes(1e7))  #  664579 prime numbers less than ten million
#   length(primes(1e8))  # 5761455 prime numbers less than one hundred million
# ## End(Not run)