nss-3.41/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/expt.txt

Exponentiation

For exponentiation, the MPI library uses a simple and fairly standard
square-and-multiply method.  The algorithm is this:

Input:	a, b
Output: a ** b

	s = 1

	while(b != 0)
	  if(b is odd)
	    s = s * a
	  endif

	  b = b / 2

	  x = x * x
	endwhile

	return s

The modular exponentiation is done the same way, except replacing:

	s = s * a

with
	s = (s * a) mod m

and replacing

	x = x * x

with

	x = (x * x) mod m

Here is a sample exponentiation using the MPI library, as compared to
the same problem solved by the Unix 'bc' program on my system:

Computation of 2,381,283 ** 235

'bc' says:

4385CA4A804D199FBEAD95FAD0796FAD0D0B51FC9C16743C45568C789666985DB719\
4D90E393522F74C9601262C0514145A49F3B53D00983F95FDFCEA3D0043ECEF6227E\
6FB59C924C3EE74447B359B5BF12A555D46CB819809EF423F004B55C587D6F0E8A55\
4988036A42ACEF9F71459F97CEF6E574BD7373657111648626B1FF8EE15F663B2C0E\
6BBE5082D4CDE8E14F263635AE8F35DB2C280819517BE388B5573B84C5A19C871685\
FD408A6471F9D6AFAF5129A7548EAE926B40874B340285F44765BF5468CE20A13267\
CD88CE6BC786ACED36EC7EA50F67FF27622575319068A332C3C0CB23E26FB55E26F4\
5F732753A52B8E2FB4D4F42D894242613CA912A25486C3DEC9C66E5DB6182F6C1761\
CF8CD0D255BE64B93836B27D452AE38F950EB98B517D4CF50D48F0165EF0CCCE1F5C\
49BF18219FDBA0EEDD1A7E8B187B70C2BAED5EC5C6821EF27FAFB1CFF70111C52235\
5E948B93A015AA1AE152B110BB5658CB14D3E45A48BFE7F082C1182672A455A695CD\
A1855E8781E625F25B41B516E77F589FA420C3B058861EA138CF7A2C58DB3C7504FD\
D29554D78237834CC5AE710D403CC4F6973D5012B7E117A8976B14A0B5AFA889BD47\
92C461F0F96116F00A97AE9E83DC5203680CAF9A18A062566C145650AB86BE4F907F\
A9F7AB4A700B29E1E5BACCD6DCBFA513E10832815F710807EED2E279081FEC61D619\
AB270BEB3D3A1787B35A9DD41A8766CF21F3B5C693B3BAB1C2FA14A4ED202BC35743\
E5CBE2391624D4F8C9BFBBC78D69764E7C6C5B11BF005677BFAD17D9278FFC1F158F\
1B3683FF7960FA0608103792C4163DC0AF3E06287BB8624F8FE3A0FFBDF82ACECA2F\
CFFF2E1AC93F3CA264A1B

MPI says:

4385CA4A804D199FBEAD95FAD0796FAD0D0B51FC9C16743C45568C789666985DB719\
4D90E393522F74C9601262C0514145A49F3B53D00983F95FDFCEA3D0043ECEF6227E\
6FB59C924C3EE74447B359B5BF12A555D46CB819809EF423F004B55C587D6F0E8A55\
4988036A42ACEF9F71459F97CEF6E574BD7373657111648626B1FF8EE15F663B2C0E\
6BBE5082D4CDE8E14F263635AE8F35DB2C280819517BE388B5573B84C5A19C871685\
FD408A6471F9D6AFAF5129A7548EAE926B40874B340285F44765BF5468CE20A13267\
CD88CE6BC786ACED36EC7EA50F67FF27622575319068A332C3C0CB23E26FB55E26F4\
5F732753A52B8E2FB4D4F42D894242613CA912A25486C3DEC9C66E5DB6182F6C1761\
CF8CD0D255BE64B93836B27D452AE38F950EB98B517D4CF50D48F0165EF0CCCE1F5C\
49BF18219FDBA0EEDD1A7E8B187B70C2BAED5EC5C6821EF27FAFB1CFF70111C52235\
5E948B93A015AA1AE152B110BB5658CB14D3E45A48BFE7F082C1182672A455A695CD\
A1855E8781E625F25B41B516E77F589FA420C3B058861EA138CF7A2C58DB3C7504FD\
D29554D78237834CC5AE710D403CC4F6973D5012B7E117A8976B14A0B5AFA889BD47\
92C461F0F96116F00A97AE9E83DC5203680CAF9A18A062566C145650AB86BE4F907F\
A9F7AB4A700B29E1E5BACCD6DCBFA513E10832815F710807EED2E279081FEC61D619\
AB270BEB3D3A1787B35A9DD41A8766CF21F3B5C693B3BAB1C2FA14A4ED202BC35743\
E5CBE2391624D4F8C9BFBBC78D69764E7C6C5B11BF005677BFAD17D9278FFC1F158F\
1B3683FF7960FA0608103792C4163DC0AF3E06287BB8624F8FE3A0FFBDF82ACECA2F\
CFFF2E1AC93F3CA264A1B

Diff says:
% diff bc.txt mp.txt
%

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