Largest Prime Factor- C++ - c++

Question

I'm trying to find the largest prime factor of the number 600851475143. My code works for smaller numbers that I test (below 100). However when confronted with 600851475143, it returns 4370432, definitely not prime. Any ideas what could be wrong with my code?
#include <iostream>
#include <time.h>
#include <math.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int num;
int largest;
int count;
cout<<"Please enter a number to have its Largest Prime Factor found"<<endl;
cin>>num;
num = 600851475143;
for (int factor = 1; factor <= num; factor++)
{
if (num % factor == 0)
{
count = 0;
for (int primetest=2; count == 0 && factor > primetest ; primetest++)
{
if (factor % primetest == 0)
count ++;
//endif
}
if (count == 0)
largest = factor;
//endif
}
}//endif
cout<<largest<<endl;
system("PAUSE");
}

Answer 1

num = 600851475143;
Integer overflow occurs here. The size of num is not large enough to contain the value which you've provided.
Use uint64_t.
#include <cstdint> //must include this!
uint64_t num = 600851475143;
Read this : cstdint

Answer 2

There are quite a few major problems with the code, so I want to show a better complete
solution. The main problem is that it has no input validation! Good code must be correct
on all inputs it does not reject. So I have now included proper reading and validation of
input. In this way you would have automatically caught the problem.
All major types need to have proper names! So I have introduce the typedef uint_type.
The compiler will also find out already at compile-time, if the input 60085147514 is
valid or not (though this now is also rejected at run-time). If the compiler warns,
then you need to use a bigger integer-type; however unsigned long is enough on all common
64-bit platforms (but not on common 32-bit platforms). If you need bigger integer types,
then now just one place has to be changed.
Your algorithm is horribly inefficient! All what is needed is to divide the number through
all factors found (as long as possible), and you are guaranteed to only encounter prime
numbers -- so no need to check for that. And also one only needs to consider factors up to
the square-root of the input. This all requires a bit of logic to think through -- see
the code.
Then your code violates the principle of locality: declare your variables where they are
needed, not somewhere else. You also included non-C++ headers, which furthermore were
not needed. The use of using-directives just obfuscates the code: you don't see anymore
where the components come from; and there is no need for them! I also introduced an
anonymous namespace, for the more prominent definitions.
Finally, I use a more compact coding-style (indentation by 2 spaces, brackets on the
same line, avoiding brackets if possible. Think about it: in this way you can see much
more at one glance, while with a bit of training it is also easier to read.
When compiled as shown, the compiler warns about largest_factor possibly used undefined.
This is not the case, and I opted here to consider that warning as empty.
Program LargestPrimeFactor.cpp:
// Compile with
// g++ -O3 -Wall -std=c++98 -pedantic -o LargestPrimeFactor LargestPrimeFactor.cpp
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
namespace {
const std::string program_name = "LargestPrimeFactor";
const std::string error_output = "ERROR[" + program_name + "]: ";
const std::string version_number = "0.1";
enum ErrorCodes { reading_error = 1, range_error = 2 };
typedef unsigned long uint_type;
const uint_type example = 600851475143; // compile-time warnings will show
// whether uint_type is sufficient
}
int main() {
uint_type number;
std::cout << "Please enter a number to have its largest prime factor found:"
<< std::endl;
std::cin >> number;
if (not std::cin) {
std::cerr << error_output << "Number not of the required unsigned integer"
" type.\n";
return reading_error;
}
if (number <= 1) {
std::cerr << error_output << "Number " << number << " has no largest prime"
" factor.\n";
return range_error;
}
const uint_type input = number;
uint_type largest_factor;
for (uint_type factor = 2; factor <= number/factor; ++factor)
if (number % factor == 0) {
largest_factor = factor;
do number /= factor; while (number % factor == 0);
}
if (number != 1) largest_factor = number;
std::cout << "The largest prime factor of " << input << " is " << largest_factor
<< ".\n";
}

Answer 3

And to offer a correction. Depending on your compiler you could try unsigned long and see if that could hold your answer. Try and write to cout and see if the variable holds the value you expect.
On another note, if you are trying to find the largest factor would it not be more efficient to count down from the highest possible factor?

Answer 4

You can declare your num variable as long long int.
long long int num;
This will avoid all the types of overflows occurring in your code!

Answer 5

C++ Program to find the largest prime factor of number.
#include <iostream>
#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
// A function to find largest prime factor
long long maxPrimeFactors(long long n)
{
// Initialize the maximum prime factor
// variable with the lowest one
long long maxPrime = -1;
// Print the number of 2s that divide n
while (n % 2 == 0) {
maxPrime = 2;
n >>= 1; // equivalent to n /= 2
}
// n must be odd at this point
while (n % 3 == 0) {
maxPrime = 3;
n=n/3;
}
// now we have to iterate only for integers
// who does not have prime factor 2 and 3
for (int i = 5; i <= sqrt(n); i += 6) {
while (n % i == 0) {
maxPrime = i;
n = n / i;
}
while (n % (i+2) == 0) {
maxPrime = i+2;
n = n / (i+2);
}
}
// This condition is to handle the case
// when n is a prime number greater than 4
if (n > 4)
maxPrime = n;
return maxPrime;
}
// Driver program to test above function
int main()
{
long long n = 15;
cout << maxPrimeFactors(n) << endl;
n = 25698751364526;
cout << maxPrimeFactors(n);
}