Quadratic primes
Problem 27
Euler discovered the remarkable quadratic formula:
n² + n + 41
It turns out that the formula will produce 40 primes for the consecutive values n = 0 to 39. However, when n = 40, 402 + 40 + 41 = 40(40 + 1) + 41 is divisible by 41, and certainly when n = 41, 41² + 41 + 41 is clearly divisible by 41.
The incredible formula n² − 79n + 1601 was discovered, which produces 80 primes for the consecutive values n = 0 to 79. The product of the coefficients, −79 and 1601, is −126479.
Considering quadratics of the form:
n² + an + b, where |a| < 1000 and |b| < 1000
where |n| is the modulus/absolute value of n
e.g. |11| = 11 and |−4| = 4
Find the product of the coefficients, a and b, for the quadratic expression that produces the maximum number of primes for consecutive values of n, starting with n = 0.
<span style="font-size:18px;">import math
def IsPrime(x):
if x<3:
return False
for i in range(2,int(math.sqrt(x))+1):
if x%i==0:
return False
return True
def func(a,b):
k=0
while True:
if IsPrime(k*k+a*k+b):
k+=1
else:
break
return k-1
maxa,maxb=0,0
num=0
for j in range(-999,1000):
if IsPrime(j):
for i in range(-999,1000):
temp=func(i,j)
if temp>num:
num=temp
maxa,maxb=i,j
print(maxa*maxb)
</span>
time : 3s