The Fast Library for Number Theory (FLINT) is a C

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

for

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

applications. The two major areas of functionality currently implemented in FLINT are polynomial arithmetic over the

integers An integer is the number zero (0), a positive natural number (1, 2, 3, ...), or the negation of a positive natural number (−1, −2, −3, ...). The negations or additive inverses of the positive natural numbers are referred to as negative in ...

and a quadratic sieve. The library is designed to be compiled with the GNU Multi-Precision Library (GMP) and is released under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

. It is developed by William Hart of the University of Kaiserslautern (formerly

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

) and David Harvey of

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

(formerly

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

) to address the speed limitations of the PARI and NTL libraries.Page 10 of th
Project Description
fo
UW 2006 COMPMATH Proposal
by William Stein

Design Philosophy

* Asymptotically Fast Algorithms * Implementations Fast as or Faster than Alternatives * Written in Pure C * Reliance on GMP * Extensively Tested * Extensively Profiled * Support for Parallel Computation

Functionality

* Polynomial Arithmetic over the Integers * Quadratic Sieve

References

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Design Philosophy

Functionality

References

Further reading