PARI/GP: a user friendly environment for teaching the RSA encryption algorithm
Michael Grady · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2015
The RSA encryption algorithm is an important topic at several points in the undergraduate Computer Science curriculum, including courses in discrete structures, advanced algorithms and information assurance. The algorithm is both simple and elegant and can easily be covered in a single lecture using small moduli. However, one of the most important benefits of including the RSA algorithm in the curriculum using realistic moduli is that it requires students to confront computational complexity issues head on. Almost every step in a computation using small moduli must be reconsidered in moving to realistic scenarios, and this is an important part of the learning process. The author has found PARI/GP to be a useful tool in this effort. PARI/GP is a light weight yet powerful open source computer algebra system for doing computations in number theory. This system provides a user friendly environment for teaching the background number theory as well as exploring the algorithm itself.