Develop Reference

Find the next prime number in Python

I have a function that takes a number (for example, 5) and returns the first prime number after the input number (in this case, it would be 7).
This is my code:
def prime(n):
np=[]
isprime=[]
for i in range (n+1,n+200):
np.append(i)
for x in range(2,199):
for j in np:
if x%j!=0:
isprime.append(x)
return min(isprime)
However, this code doesn't work (it always returns 2). Where is the mistake?

You have a few mistakes, most notably np is clearly meant to be the potential primes (it starts at n+1 which is the first potential number that fits your critera "the first prime number after the input number"), and yet you add x to your prime list, which is from range(2,199), you should be using:
isprime.append(j)
Your primality test is also the wrong way round as a result, you should be using:
j % x != 0
Lastly, you can't append a number if that condition is true in one case, it has to be true in all cases (where x is an integer which satisfies 2 <= x < j), because of this you should switch your second set of for loops around (the x loop should be the inner loop), and you should also only loop up to j-1 (the number being tested). Additionally, you should instead choose to not add an item if j % x == 0:
for ...:
val_is_prime = True
for ...:
if j % x == 0:
val_is_prime = False
break
if val_is_prime:
isprime.append(j)
This results in the following code:
def prime(n):
np=[]
isprime=[]
for i in range (n+1,n+200):
np.append(i)
for j in np:
val_is_prime = True
for x in range(2,j-1):
if j % x == 0:
val_is_prime = False
break
if val_is_prime:
isprime.append(j)
return min(isprime)
And test run:
>>> prime(5)
7
>>> prime(13)
17
>>> prime(23)
29
Note that there's several other efficiency improvements that could be made, but this answer focuses on the mistakes rather than improvements

Try this one, the most pythonic and clear way to do this that I found (but probably not the most efficient):
def is_prime(x):
return all(x % i for i in range(2, x))
def next_prime(x):
return min([a for a in range(x+1, 2*x) if is_prime(a)])
print(next_prime(9))

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-simpy-nextprime-method/
from sympy import *
# calling nextprime function on differnet numbers
nextprime(7)
nextprime(13)
nextprime(2)
Output:
11 17 3

This code working.
def prime(n):
next_prime = n + 1
prime = True
while True:
for i in range(2, next_prime):
if next_prime%i ==0:
prime = False
break
if prime:
return next_prime
else:
next_prime = next_prime + 1
if next_prime % 2 == 0:
next_prime = next_prime + 1
prime = True
if __name__=="__main__":
print(prime(5))

Here is one working sample.
inputNumber = int(input("Enter number to find next prime: "))
def nextPrime(inputNum):
for nextNumToChk in range(inputNum+1, inputNum +200):
if nextNumToChk > 1:
# If num is divisible by any number between 2 and val, it is not prime
for i in range(2, nextNumToChk):
if (nextNumToChk % i) == 0:
break
else:
#found the prime
return nextNumToChk
result = nextPrime(inputNumber)
print "Next Prime is : ",result
Output:-
Enter number to find next prime: 5
Next Prime is : 7

def is_prime(n):
# Corner case
if n <= 1:
return False
# Check from 2 to n-1
for i in range(2, n):
if n % i == 0:
return False
return True
def first_prime_over(n):
prime_number = (i for i in range(n) if is_prime(i))
try:
for i in range(0,n):
(next(prime_number))
except StopIteration:
prime_number_next = (i for i in range(n,n+1000) if is_prime(i))
print(next(prime_number_next))
first_prime_over(10)

Try this one:
def find_next_prime(n):
return find_prime_in_range(n, 2*n)
def find_prime_in_range(a, b):
for c in range(a, b):
for i in range(2, c):
if c % i == 0:
break
else:
return c
return None
def main():
n = int(input('Find the next prime number from: '))
print(find_next_prime(n+1))
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()

n = int(input("Enter a number"))
while True:
n+=1
for x in range(2,n):
if n%x==0:
break
else:
print("next prime number is",n)
break

Python print non-prime numbers

I have a hackkerank coding challenge to print first n non prime numbers, i have the working code but the problem is that they have a locked code which prints numbers from 1 to n along with the output, in order to pass the test i need to print only the non prime numbers not 1...n numbers along with it. I cant comment the printing part of 1...n as it is blocked. please let me know the idea to print only 1st n non prime numbers:
here is my solution:
def manipulate_generator(generator, n):
if n>1:
ls=[1]
for elm in generator:
if elm>3 and len(ls)<n:
for k in range(2,elm):
if elm%k==0 and elm not in ls:
ls.append(elm)
print(elm)
if len(ls)==n:
return ls
That's the code I added but here is the code that's locked on which I have to write the code above to make it print the number one at a time
def positive_integers_generator():
n = 1
while True:
x = yield n
if x is not None:
n = x
else:
n += 1
k = int(input())
g = positive_integers_generator()
for _ in range(k):
n = next(g)
print(n)
manipulate_generator(g, n)
the point is the for _ in range(k): already prints out number which includes numbers I don't want printed out: This is the desired kind of output I want:for n=10 I want it to print out:
output:
1
4
6
8
9
10
12
14
15
16
I can't change this code but the one above is what I wrote and can be changed... Pleae help me out... Thanks in anticipation

Why not to throw away the numbers which we don't need? Look at this solution which I implemented...
def is_prime(n):
for i in range(2, n):
if n%i == 0:
return False
return True
def manipulate_generator(generator, n):
if is_prime(n+1):
next(generator)
manipulate_generator(generator, n+1)
Note: I understand that the logic can be improved to make it more efficient. But, its the idea of skipping unnecessary number printing which is important here !

You can print all the numbers from 1 up to the first prime number and then from that first number to the next one until you reach n.

I'm not sure of your hackerrank situation, but printing the first N non-prime numbers efficiently can be done this way.
def non_prime_numbers_till_n(n):
primes = set()
for num in range(2,number + 1):
if num > 1:
for i in range(2, math.sqrt(num)):
if (num % i) == 0:
break
else:
primes.add(num)
result = []
for i in range(1, n):
if i not in primes:
result.append(i)
return result
Depending on what your online editor expects you can either print them, or store them in a list and return the list.
Also bear in mind, you can only check upto the sqrt of the number to determine if its a prime or not.

I eventually came up with this answer which I believe should solve it but id there;s a better way to solve it please add your answers:
def manipulate_generator(generator, n):
for num in range(3,100000):
for q in range(2,num):
if num%q==0 and num>n:
generator.send(num-1)
return
this link python generator helped me to understand python generator

I just solved that right now. Like Swapnil Godse said you need to deal with all special cases to optimize computations. This link might be helpful: click here.
Here is the solution:
from math import sqrt
def is_prime(n):
if (n <= 1):
return False
if (n == 2):
return True
if (n % 2 == 0):
return False
i = 3
while i <= sqrt(n):
if n % i == 0:
return False
i = i + 2
return True
def manipulate_generator(g, n):
if is_prime(n+1):
next(g)
manipulate_generator(g, n+1)

prime = int(input('Please enter the range: '))
prime_number = []
for num in range(prime):
if num > 1:
for i in range(2,num):
if num % i == 0:
break
else:
prime_number.append(num)
print(f'Prime numbers in range {prime} is {prime_number}')
all_number = []
for i in range(2,prime+1):
all_number.append(i)
Non_prime_number = []
for element in all_number:
if element not in prime_number:
Non_prime_number.append(element)
print(f'Non Prime numbers in range {prime} is {Non_prime_number}')

Python, loops and iteration

Define the method below to return the lowest factor of an arbitrary integer. The lowest factor is the smallest number greater than 1 that will divide evenly into the parameter(which will be 2 or higher).And this is my code, I don't know why is incorrect.
def first_factor(n):
for num in range(2,n):
if n % num == 0 and sqrt(n):
return num

You should be using the square root of the number in the range, not as one of the conditions.
def first_factor(n):
for num in range(2, int(n**0.5)+1):
if n % num == 0:
return num

This is only the definition of the function - you have to call it and print the result to see it.
The full code may be:
def first_factor(n):
for num in range(2, n + 1):
if n % num == 0:
return num
print(first_factor(3))
Note that I totally omitted square root as it is useless and it prevented to give a result for prime numbers.

Beginner looking for advice/help on this code (Python) [duplicate]

I was having issues in printing a series of prime numbers from one to hundred. I can't figure our what's wrong with my code.
Here's what I wrote; it prints all the odd numbers instead of primes:
for num in range(1, 101):
for i in range(2, num):
if num % i == 0:
break
else:
print(num)
break

You need to check all numbers from 2 to n-1 (to sqrt(n) actually, but ok, let it be n).
If n is divisible by any of the numbers, it is not prime. If a number is prime, print it.
for num in range(2,101):
prime = True
for i in range(2,num):
if (num%i==0):
prime = False
if prime:
print (num)
You can write the same much shorter and more pythonic:
for num in range(2,101):
if all(num%i!=0 for i in range(2,num)):
print (num)
As I've said already, it would be better to check divisors not from 2 to n-1, but from 2 to sqrt(n):
import math
for num in range(2,101):
if all(num%i!=0 for i in range(2,int(math.sqrt(num))+1)):
print (num)
For small numbers like 101 it doesn't matter, but for 10**8 the difference will be really big.
You can improve it a little more by incrementing the range you check by 2, and thereby only checking odd numbers. Like so:
import math
print 2
for num in range(3,101,2):
if all(num%i!=0 for i in range(2,int(math.sqrt(num))+1)):
print (num)
Edited:
As in the first loop odd numbers are selected, in the second loop no
need to check with even numbers, so 'i' value can be start with 3 and
skipped by 2.
import math
print 2
for num in range(3,101,2):
if all(num%i!=0 for i in range(3,int(math.sqrt(num))+1, 2)):
print (num)

I'm a proponent of not assuming the best solution and testing it. Below are some modifications I did to create simple classes of examples by both #igor-chubin and #user448810. First off let me say it's all great information, thank you guys. But I have to acknowledge #user448810 for his clever solution, which turns out to be the fastest by far (of those I tested). So kudos to you, sir! In all examples I use a values of 1 million (1,000,000) as n.
Please feel free to try the code out.
Good luck!
Method 1 as described by Igor Chubin:
def primes_method1(n):
out = list()
for num in range(1, n+1):
prime = True
for i in range(2, num):
if (num % i == 0):
prime = False
if prime:
out.append(num)
return out
Benchmark: Over 272+ seconds
Method 2 as described by Igor Chubin:
def primes_method2(n):
out = list()
for num in range(1, n+1):
if all(num % i != 0 for i in range(2, num)):
out.append(num)
return out
Benchmark: 73.3420000076 seconds
Method 3 as described by Igor Chubin:
def primes_method3(n):
out = list()
for num in range(1, n+1):
if all(num % i != 0 for i in range(2, int(num**.5 ) + 1)):
out.append(num)
return out
Benchmark: 11.3580000401 seconds
Method 4 as described by Igor Chubin:
def primes_method4(n):
out = list()
out.append(2)
for num in range(3, n+1, 2):
if all(num % i != 0 for i in range(2, int(num**.5 ) + 1)):
out.append(num)
return out
Benchmark: 8.7009999752 seconds
Method 5 as described by user448810 (which I thought was quite clever):
def primes_method5(n):
out = list()
sieve = [True] * (n+1)
for p in range(2, n+1):
if (sieve[p]):
out.append(p)
for i in range(p, n+1, p):
sieve[i] = False
return out
Benchmark: 1.12000012398 seconds
Notes: Solution 5 listed above (as proposed by user448810) turned out to be the fastest and honestly quiet creative and clever. I love it. Thanks guys!!
EDIT: Oh, and by the way, I didn't feel there was any need to import the math library for the square root of a value as the equivalent is just (n**.5). Otherwise I didn't edit much other then make the values get stored in and output array to be returned by the class. Also, it would probably be a bit more efficient to store the results to a file than verbose and could save a lot on memory if it was just one at a time but would cost a little bit more time due to disk writes. I think there is always room for improvement though. So hopefully the code makes sense guys.
2021 EDIT: I know it's been a really long time but I was going back through my Stackoverflow after linking it to my Codewars account and saw my recently accumulated points, which which was linked to this post. Something I read in the original poster caught my eye for #user448810, so I decided to do a slight modification mentioned in the original post by filtering out odd values before appending the output array. The results was much better performance for both the optimization as well as latest version of Python 3.8 with a result of 0.723 seconds (prior code) vs 0.504 seconds using 1,000,000 for n.
def primes_method5(n):
out = list()
sieve = [True] * (n+1)
for p in range(2, n+1):
if (sieve[p] and sieve[p]%2==1):
out.append(p)
for i in range(p, n+1, p):
sieve[i] = False
return out
Nearly five years later, I might know a bit more but I still just love Python, and it's kind of crazy to think it's been that long. The post honestly feels like it was made a short time ago and at the time I had only been using python about a year I think. And it still seems relevant. Crazy. Good times.

Instead of trial division, a better approach, invented by the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes over two thousand years ago, is to sieve by repeatedly casting out multiples of primes.
Begin by making a list of all numbers from 2 to the maximum desired prime n. Then repeatedly take the smallest uncrossed number and cross out all of its multiples; the numbers that remain uncrossed are prime.
For example, consider the numbers less than 30. Initially, 2 is identified as prime, then 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 are crossed out. Next 3 is identified as prime, then 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30 are crossed out. The next prime is 5, so 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 are crossed out. And so on. The numbers that remain are prime: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, and 29.
def primes(n):
sieve = [True] * (n+1)
for p in range(2, n+1):
if (sieve[p]):
print p
for i in range(p, n+1, p):
sieve[i] = False
An optimized version of the sieve handles 2 separately and sieves only odd numbers. Also, since all composites less than the square of the current prime are crossed out by smaller primes, the inner loop can start at p^2 instead of p and the outer loop can stop at the square root of n. I'll leave the optimized version for you to work on.

break ends the loop that it is currently in. So, you are only ever checking if it divisible by 2, giving you all odd numbers.
for num in range(2,101):
for i in range(2,num):
if (num%i==0):
break
else:
print(num)
that being said, there are much better ways to find primes in python than this.
for num in range(2,101):
if is_prime(num):
print(num)
def is_prime(n):
for i in range(2, int(math.sqrt(n)) + 1):
if n % i == 0:
return False
return True

The best way to solve the above problem would be to use the "Miller Rabin Primality Test" algorithm. It uses a probabilistic approach to find if a number is prime or not. And it is by-far the most efficient algorithm I've come across for the same.
The python implementation of the same is demonstrated below:
def miller_rabin(n, k):
# Implementation uses the Miller-Rabin Primality Test
# The optimal number of rounds for this test is 40
# See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6325576/how-many-iterations-of-rabin-miller-should-i-use-for-cryptographic-safe-primes
# for justification
# If number is even, it's a composite number
if n == 2:
return True
if n % 2 == 0:
return False
r, s = 0, n - 1
while s % 2 == 0:
r += 1
s //= 2
for _ in xrange(k):
a = random.randrange(2, n - 1)
x = pow(a, s, n)
if x == 1 or x == n - 1:
continue
for _ in xrange(r - 1):
x = pow(x, 2, n)
if x == n - 1:
break
else:
return False
return True

Igor Chubin's answer can be improved. When testing if X is prime, the algorithm doesn't have to check every number up to the square root of X, it only has to check the prime numbers up to the sqrt(X). Thus, it can be more efficient if it refers to the list of prime numbers as it is creating it. The function below outputs a list of all primes under b, which is convenient as a list for several reasons (e.g. when you want to know the number of primes < b). By only checking the primes, it saves time at higher numbers (compare at around 10,000; the difference is stark).
from math import sqrt
def lp(b)
primes = [2]
for c in range(3,b):
e = round(sqrt(c)) + 1
for d in primes:
if d <= e and c%d == 0:
break
else:
primes.extend([c])
return primes

My way of listing primes to an entry number without too much hassle is using the property that you can get any number that is not a prime with the summation of primes.
Therefore, if you divide the entry number with all primes below it, and it is not evenly divisible by any of them, you know that you have a prime.
Of course there are still faster ways of getting the primes, but this one already performs quite well, especially because you are not dividing the entry number by any number, but quite only the primes all the way to that number.
With this code I managed on my computer to list all primes up to 100 000 in less than 4 seconds.
import time as t
start = t.clock()
primes = [2,3,5,7]
for num in xrange(3,100000,2):
if all(num%x != 0 for x in primes):
primes.append(num)
print primes
print t.clock() - start
print sum(primes)

A Python Program function module that returns the 1'st N prime numbers:
def get_primes(count):
"""
Return the 1st count prime integers.
"""
result = []
x=2
while len(result) in range(count):
i=2
flag=0
for i in range(2,x):
if x%i == 0:
flag+=1
break
i=i+1
if flag == 0:
result.append(x)
x+=1
pass
return result

A simpler and more efficient way of solving this is storing all prime numbers found previously and checking if the next number is a multiple of any of the smaller primes.
n = 1000
primes = [2]
for i in range(3, n, 2):
if not any(i % prime == 0 for prime in primes):
primes.append(i)
print(primes)
Note that any is a short circuit function, in other words, it will break the loop as soon as a truthy value is found.

we can make a list of prime numbers using sympy library
import sympy
lower=int(input("lower value:")) #let it be 30
upper=int(input("upper value:")) #let it be 60
l=list(sympy.primerange(lower,upper+1)) #[31,37,41,43,47,53,59]
print(l)

Here's a simple and intuitive version of checking whether it's a prime in a RECURSIVE function! :) (I did it as a homework assignment for an MIT class)
In python it runs very fast until 1900. IF you try more than 1900, you'll get an interesting error :) (Would u like to check how many numbers your computer can manage?)
def is_prime(n, div=2):
if div> n/2.0: return True
if n% div == 0:
return False
else:
div+=1
return is_prime(n,div)
#The program:
until = 1000
for i in range(until):
if is_prime(i):
print i
Of course... if you like recursive functions, this small code can be upgraded with a dictionary to seriously increase its performance, and avoid that funny error.
Here's a simple Level 1 upgrade with a MEMORY integration:
import datetime
def is_prime(n, div=2):
global primelist
if div> n/2.0: return True
if div < primelist[0]:
div = primelist[0]
for x in primelist:
if x ==0 or x==1: continue
if n % x == 0:
return False
if n% div == 0:
return False
else:
div+=1
return is_prime(n,div)
now = datetime.datetime.now()
print 'time and date:',now
until = 100000
primelist=[]
for i in range(until):
if is_prime(i):
primelist.insert(0,i)
print "There are", len(primelist),"prime numbers, until", until
print primelist[0:100], "..."
finish = datetime.datetime.now()
print "It took your computer", finish - now , " to calculate it"
Here are the resuls, where I printed the last 100 prime numbers found.
time and date: 2013-10-15 13:32:11.674448
There are 9594 prime numbers, until 100000
[99991, 99989, 99971, 99961, 99929, 99923, 99907, 99901, 99881, 99877, 99871, 99859, 99839, 99833, 99829, 99823, 99817, 99809, 99793, 99787, 99767, 99761, 99733, 99721, 99719, 99713, 99709, 99707, 99689, 99679, 99667, 99661, 99643, 99623, 99611, 99607, 99581, 99577, 99571, 99563, 99559, 99551, 99529, 99527, 99523, 99497, 99487, 99469, 99439, 99431, 99409, 99401, 99397, 99391, 99377, 99371, 99367, 99349, 99347, 99317, 99289, 99277, 99259, 99257, 99251, 99241, 99233, 99223, 99191, 99181, 99173, 99149, 99139, 99137, 99133, 99131, 99119, 99109, 99103, 99089, 99083, 99079, 99053, 99041, 99023, 99017, 99013, 98999, 98993, 98981, 98963, 98953, 98947, 98939, 98929, 98927, 98911, 98909, 98899, 98897] ...
It took your computer 0:00:40.871083 to calculate it
So It took 40 seconds for my i7 laptop to calculate it. :)

# computes first n prime numbers
def primes(n=1):
from math import sqrt
count = 1
plist = [2]
c = 3
if n <= 0 :
return "Error : integer n not >= 0"
while (count <= n - 1): # n - 1 since 2 is already in plist
pivot = int(sqrt(c))
for i in plist:
if i > pivot : # check for primae factors 'till sqrt c
count+= 1
plist.append(c)
break
elif c % i == 0 :
break # not prime, no need to iterate anymore
else :
continue
c += 2 # skipping even numbers
return plist

You are terminating the loop too early. After you have tested all possibilities in the body of the for loop, and not breaking, then the number is prime. As one is not prime you have to start at 2:
for num in xrange(2, 101):
for i in range(2,num):
if not num % i:
break
else:
print num
In a faster solution you only try to divide by primes that are smaller or equal to the root of the number you are testing. This can be achieved by remembering all primes you have already found. Additionally, you only have to test odd numbers (except 2). You can put the resulting algorithm into a generator so you can use it for storing primes in a container or simply printing them out:
def primes(limit):
if limit > 1:
primes_found = [(2, 4)]
yield 2
for n in xrange(3, limit + 1, 2):
for p, ps in primes_found:
if ps > n:
primes_found.append((n, n * n))
yield n
break
else:
if not n % p:
break
for i in primes(101):
print i
As you can see there is no need to calculate the square root, it is faster to store the square for each prime number and compare each divisor with this number.

How about this? Reading all the suggestions I used this:
prime=[2]+[num for num in xrange(3,m+1,2) if all(num%i!=0 for i in range(2,int(math.sqrt(num))+1))]
Prime numbers up to 1000000
root#nfs:/pywork# time python prime.py
78498
real 0m6.600s
user 0m6.532s
sys 0m0.036s

Adding to the accepted answer, further optimization can be achieved by using a list to store primes and printing them after generation.
import math
Primes_Upto = 101
Primes = [2]
for num in range(3,Primes_Upto,2):
if all(num%i!=0 for i in Primes):
Primes.append(num)
for i in Primes:
print i

Here is the simplest logic for beginners to get prime numbers:
p=[]
for n in range(2,50):
for k in range(2,50):
if n%k ==0 and n !=k:
break
else:
for t in p:
if n%t ==0:
break
else:
p.append(n)
print p

n = int(input())
is_prime = lambda n: all( n%i != 0 for i in range(2, int(n**.5)+1) )
def Prime_series(n):
for i in range(2,n):
if is_prime(i) == True:
print(i,end = " ")
else:
pass
Prime_series(n)
Here is a simplified answer using lambda function.

def function(number):
for j in range(2, number+1):
if all(j % i != 0 for i in range(2, j)):
print(j)
function(13)

for i in range(1, 100):
for j in range(2, i):
if i % j == 0:
break
else:
print(i)

Print n prime numbers using python:
num = input('get the value:')
for i in range(2,num+1):
count = 0
for j in range(2,i):
if i%j != 0:
count += 1
if count == i-2:
print i,

def prime_number(a):
yes=[]
for i in range (2,100):
if (i==2 or i==3 or i==5 or i==7) or (i%2!=0 and i%3!=0 and i%5!=0 and i%7!=0 and i%(i**(float(0.5)))!=0):
yes=yes+[i]
print (yes)

min=int(input("min:"))
max=int(input("max:"))
for num in range(min,max):
for x in range(2,num):
if(num%x==0 and num!=1):
break
else:
print(num,"is prime")
break

This is a sample program I wrote to check if a number is prime or not.
def is_prime(x):
y=0
if x<=1:
return False
elif x == 2:
return True
elif x%2==0:
return False
else:
root = int(x**.5)+2
for i in xrange (2,root):
if x%i==0:
return False
y=1
if y==0:
return True

n = int(raw_input('Enter the integer range to find prime no :'))
p = 2
while p<n:
i = p
cnt = 0
while i>1:
if p%i == 0:
cnt+=1
i-=1
if cnt == 1:
print "%s is Prime Number"%p
else:
print "%s is Not Prime Number"%p
p+=1

Using filter function.
l=range(1,101)
for i in range(2,10): # for i in range(x,y), here y should be around or <= sqrt(101)
l = filter(lambda x: x==i or x%i, l)
print l

for num in range(1,101):
prime = True
for i in range(2,num/2):
if (num%i==0):
prime = False
if prime:
print num

f=0
sum=0
for i in range(1,101):
for j in range(1,i+1):
if(i%j==0):
f=f+1
if(f==2):
sum=sum+i
print i
f=0
print sum

The fastest & best implementation of omitting primes:
def PrimeRanges2(a, b):
arr = range(a, b+1)
up = int(math.sqrt(b)) + 1
for d in range(2, up):
arr = omit_multi(arr, d)

Here is a different approach that trades space for faster search time. This may be fastest so.
import math
def primes(n):
if n < 2:
return []
numbers = [0]*(n+1)
primes = [2]
# Mark all odd numbers as maybe prime, leave evens marked composite.
for i in xrange(3, n+1, 2):
numbers[i] = 1
sqn = int(math.sqrt(n))
# Starting with 3, look at each odd number.
for i in xrange(3, len(numbers), 2):
# Skip if composite.
if numbers[i] == 0:
continue
# Number is prime. Would have been marked as composite if there were
# any smaller prime factors already examined.
primes.append(i)
if i > sqn:
# All remaining odd numbers not marked composite must be prime.
primes.extend([i for i in xrange(i+2, len(numbers), 2)
if numbers[i]])
break
# Mark all multiples of the prime as composite. Check odd multiples.
for r in xrange(i*i, len(numbers), i*2):
numbers[r] = 0
return primes
n = 1000000
p = primes(n)
print "Found", len(p), "primes <=", n

Adding my own version, just to show some itertools tricks v2.7:
import itertools
def Primes():
primes = []
a = 2
while True:
if all(itertools.imap(lambda p : a % p, primes)):
yield a
primes.append(a)
a += 1
# Print the first 100 primes
for _, p in itertools.izip(xrange(100), Primes()):
print p

Finding the greatest prime divisor (the fastest program possible)

I was checking the problems on http://projecteuler.net/
The third problem is as follows:
The prime factors of 13195 are 5, 7, 13 and 29. What is the largest
prime factor of the number 600851475143 ?
My solution code is below. But it is so slow that I think it will take weeks to complete.
How can I improve it? Or is Python itself too slow to solve this problem?
def IsPrime(num):
if num < 2:
return False
if num == 2:
return True
else:
for div in range(2,num):
if num % div == 0:
return False
return True
GetInput = int (input ("Enter the number: "))
PrimeDivisors = []
for i in range(GetInput, 1, -1):
print(i)
if GetInput % i == 0 and IsPrime(i) is True:
PrimeDivisors.append(i)
break
else:
continue
print(PrimeDivisors)
print("The greatest prime divisor is:", max(PrimeDivisors))

The problem with your solution is that you don't take your found prime factors into account, so you're needlessly checking factors after you've actually found the largest one. Here's my solution:
def largest_prime_factor(n):
largest = None
for i in range(2, n):
while n % i == 0:
largest = i
n //= i
if n == 1:
return largest
if n > 1:
return n
Project Euler problems are more about mathematics than programming, so if your solution is too slow, it's probably not your language that's at fault.
Note that my solution works quickly for this specific number by chance, so it's definitely not a general solution. Faster solutions are complicated and overkill in this specific case.

This might not be the fastest algorithm but it's quite efficient:
def prime(x):
if x in [0, 1]:
return False
for n in xrange(2, int(x ** 0.5 + 1)):
if x % n == 0:
return False
return True
def primes():
"""Prime Number Generator
Generator an infinite sequence of primes
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/567222/simple-prime-generator-in-python
"""
# Maps composites to primes witnessing their compositeness.
# This is memory efficient, as the sieve is not "run forward"
# indefinitely, but only as long as required by the current
# number being tested.
#
D = {}
# The running integer that's checked for primeness
q = 2
while True:
if q not in D:
# q is a new prime.
# Yield it and mark its first multiple that isn't
# already marked in previous iterations
#
yield q
D[q * q] = [q]
else:
# q is composite. D[q] is the list of primes that
# divide it. Since we've reached q, we no longer
# need it in the map, but we'll mark the next
# multiples of its witnesses to prepare for larger
# numbers
#
for p in D[q]:
D.setdefault(p + q, []).append(p)
del D[q]
q += 1
def primefactors(x):
if x in [0, 1]:
yield x
elif prime(x):
yield x
else:
for n in primes():
if x % n == 0:
yield n
break
for factor in primefactors(x // n):
yield factor
Usage:
>>> list(primefactors(100))
[2, 2, 5, 5]

My code which seems enough fast to me. Using collections.defaultdict() would make the code of primes() abit cleaner but I guess the code would loose some speed due to importing it.
def primes():
"""Prime number generator."""
n, skip = 2, {}
while True:
primes = skip.get(n)
if primes:
for p in primes:
skip.setdefault(n + p, set()).add(p)
del skip[n]
else:
yield n
skip[n * n] = {n}
n += 1
def un_factor(n):
"""Does an unique prime factorization on n.
Returns an ordered tuple of (prime, prime_powers)."""
if n == 1:
return ()
result = []
for p in primes():
(div, mod), power = divmod(n, p), 1
while mod == 0:
if div == 1:
result.append((p, power))
return tuple(result)
n = div
div, mod = divmod(n, p)
if mod != 0:
result.append((p, power))
power += 1
Test run:
>>> un_factor(13195)
((5, 1), (7, 1), (13, 1), (29, 1))
>>> un_factor(600851475143)
((71, 1), (839, 1), (1471, 1), (6857, 1))
>>> un_factor(20)
((2, 2), (5, 1))
EDIT: Minor edits for primes() generator based on this recipe.
EDIT2: Fixed for 20.
EDIT3: Replaced greatest_prime_divisor() with un_factor().

def getLargestFactor(n):
maxFactor = sqrt(n)
lastFactor = n
while n%2 == 0:
n /= 2
lastFactor = 2
for i in xrange(3,int(maxFactor),2 ):
if sqrt(n) < i:
return n
while n%i == 0 and n > 1:
n /= i
lastFactor = i
return lastFactor
This should be fairly efficient. Dividing each factor all out, this way we only find the prime factors. And using the fact that there can only be one prime factor of a number larger than sqrt(n).