Loop, Perfect Numbers

co*********@bellsouth.net wrote:

I have to write a program that displays all of the perfect numbers less than
1000. I know I need 2 for loops and at least one if statement. What I need
to know is, is there any method in Java to test if a number is perfect?
Thanks.

What do you mean "Perfect" number?
do you mean prime?

What do you mean "Perfect" number?

A perfect number is one that equals the sum of all the numbers that divide
evenly into it.

Example - 6 is perfect because 1, 2, and 3 divide evenly into it and their
sum is 6.

co*********@bellsouth.net wrote:

What do you mean "Perfect" number?

A perfect number is one that equals the sum of all the numbers that divide
evenly into it.

Example - 6 is perfect because 1, 2, and 3 divide evenly into it and their
sum is 6.

See http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~novelway/MEW2/lesson1.html

Class java.math.BigInteger has a method isProbablePrime(I)Z which would
probably work. :) However if you use Euclid's algorithm the largest number
you'll ever need to test for primality is 31, or 63 at the outside (by this
time it is obvious that the next perfect number will be bigger than 1000).
For numbers of that size almost any primality test you can think of will be
good enough ...

--
Chris Gray ch***@kiffer.eunet.be
/k/ Embedded Java Solutions

<co*********@bellsouth.net> wrote in message news:<wz*******************@bignews4.bellsouth.net >...

I have to write a program that displays all of the perfect numbers less than
1000. I know I need 2 for loops and at least one if statement. What I need
to know is, is there any method in Java to test if a number is perfect?
Thanks.

No there isn't, and that's the point of the exercise.

I won't write the program for you, but I'll show you how to go about
it. First, you need to scan through all numbers, checking if they are
perfect.

i.e.
For Each Of These (hint) candidate perfect numbers, you need to go
through all the numbers below it to see if it is a factor.

For Each Of These (hint) candidate factors, you need to check if it is
a factor, and if it is, then add it to a running total.

to follow the instructions as a computer would:

For each candidate perfect number:
start with a running total of zero

For each candidate factor:
is the candidate perfect number divisible by the candidate factor?
(you need to do some maths here)
if so, then add the factor to the running total
Go back to next candidate factor

All possible factors have now been checked,
and the running total is now the sum of all factors.
Is the running total equal to the candidate perfect number?
if so, the candidate IS a perfect number!
Advance to next candidate perfect number

I hope you see how this set of instructions would guide a
non-mathematician to find all the perfect numbers.

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 09:08:09 -0500, coxmarshal wrote:

I have to write a program that displays all of the perfect numbers less than
1000. I know I need 2 for loops and at least one if statement. What I need
to know is, is there any method in Java to test if a number is perfect?
Thanks.

Here, Try this...
//

procedure DoYourOwnHomework( int DONE ) {
const HARDWORK=1;
for (int STUDY=0; (STUDY = STUDY + HARDWORK); STUDY < DONE)
{
OpenBook();
ReadText();
Think();
}
if (UNDERSTOOD)
{
WriteProgram();
TurnItIn()
}
else
{
Worry();
Kvetch();
DropOut();
}
}

co*********@bellsouth.net wrote:

I have to write a program that displays all of the perfect numbers less than
1000. I know I need 2 for loops and at least one if statement.

<snip>

You don't need any loops or ifs.

public class PerfectNumbers {
public static void main(String[][] a) {
System.out.println(6);
System.out.println(28);
System.out.println(496);
}
}

:-)

Stewart.

--
My e-mail is valid but not my primary mailbox, aside from its being the
unfortunate victim of intensive mail-bombing at the moment. Please keep
replies on the 'group where everyone may benefit.

While I agree that you should do your own homework, I assume that its
a Java assignment and not a Math one ! therefore a little hint wont
hurt. Euclid had come up with an algorithm to generate perfect
numbers. You can find more details here:

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~his...umbers.html#s1

This extract should help though:

There exists an elegant and sure method of generating these numbers,
which does not leave out any perfect numbers and which does not
include any that are not; and which is done in the following way.
First set out in order the powers of two in a line, starting from
unity, and proceeding as far as you wish: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128,
256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096; and then they must be totalled each time
there is a new term, and at each totalling examine the result, if you
find that it is prime and non-composite, you must multiply it by the
quantity of the last term that you added to the line, and the product
will always be perfect. If, otherwise, it is composite and not prime,
do not multiply it, but add on the next term, and again examine the
result, and if it is composite leave it aside, without multiplying it,
and add on the next term. If, on the other hand, it is prime, and
non-composite, you must multiply it by the last term taken for its
composition, and the number that results will be perfect, and so on as
far as infinity.

Good luck !

Ian

Ian wrote:

<snip>

There exists an elegant and sure method of generating these numbers,
which does not leave out any perfect numbers and which does not
include any that are not; and which is done in the following way.

You mean someone's finally solved the mystery of the odd perfect number?
Do you have a source for this?

Stewart.

--
My e-mail is valid but not my primary mailbox, aside from its being the
unfortunate victim of intensive mail-bombing at the moment. Please keep
replies on the 'group where everyone may benefit.