Definition:Lehmer's Electromechanical Sieve

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Definition

Lehmer's Electromechanical Sieve

Lehmer's electromechanical sieve is a device which was invented for the purpose of solving number theory problems, such as:

determining the prime decomposition of integers
determining whether an integer is prime.


It consists of:

a mechanical assemblage of gearwheels
photo detector
an electronic amplifier.


It is currently located at the Computer History Museum, where its lot number is $\text X 85.82$.


Source of Name

This entry was named for Derrick Henry Lehmer.


Sources