Count Primes
To solve this coding challenge, the task is to count the number of prime numbers less than a given integer
. A prime number is an integer greater than 1 that has no other integer divisors other than 1 and itself.
using the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm. The pseudocode encompasses all necessary steps while iterating and marking non-prime numbers efficiently.
n
Explanation
The Sieve of Eratosthenes is an efficient algorithm to find all prime numbers up to a specified integer. It works by iteratively marking the multiples of each prime number starting from 2. Hereβs a step-by-step detailed explanation for solving this problem using the Sieve of Eratosthenes method:- Initialization:
-
Create a list
of boolean values. The index of this list represents the number, and the boolean value at that index indicates whether it is prime (
is_prime) or not (True). Initialize the list withFalsevalues, but specifically mark the indices 0 and 1 asTruesince 0 and 1 are not prime numbers.False - Iterate and Mark Non-Primes:
-
Start iterating from the first prime number, which is 2. For each prime number, mark all of its multiples as
, as these multiples cannot be prime.
False - Continue the Process:
-
Continue this process up to the square root of
because a larger factor of a number will necessarily be a multiple of a smaller factor, which would have been marked earlier.
n - Count the Primes:
-
The remaining
values in the list
Trueindicate prime numbers. The count ofis_primevalues in the list up toTruewill give the number of primes less thann.n - Define Function and Edge Case Check:
-
If
is less than 2, return 0 as there are no prime numbers less than 2.
n - Create a Boolean List and Initialize:
-
Create a list called
with
is_primeentries all set ton.True -
Set
and
is_prime[0]tois_prime[1].False - Iterate and Mark Non-Prime Numbers:
-
Iterate over each number starting from
to the integer square root of
2.n -
For a number at index
which is still marked as
i, mark all its multiples asTrue.False - Count the Prime Numbers:
-
Sum the
values in
Truelist to get the count of prime numbers less thanis_prime.n
Detailed Steps in Pseudocode
function countPrimes(n):
# Check if n is less than 2
if n < 2:
return 0
# Initialize is_prime list with True values
is_prime = [True] * n
# Set the indices 0 and 1 to False, since 0 and 1 are not prime
is_prime[0] = False
is_prime[1] = False
# Iterate from 2 to sqrt(n)
for i from 2 to sqrt(n) do:
# If i is still considered prime
if is_prime[i]:
# Mark all multiples of i as False (non-prime)
for multiple in range(i * i, n, i):
is_prime[multiple] = False
# Count the number of True values in is_prime
prime_count = sum(is_prime)
return prime_count
This will effectively give us the number of prime numbers less than
n