n-th prime number problem, need to speed it up a bit

Answer 1

This is not something you should be doing at run-time. A better option is to pre-calculate all these primes and then put them in your program somehow (a static array, or a file to be read in). The slow code is then run as part of the development process (which is slow anyway :-), not at the point where you need your speed.

Then it's just a matter of a lookup of some sort rather than calculating them every time you need them.

Answer 2

Please see SO questions:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Astackoverflow.com+prime+number&btnG=Search

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/586284/finding-prime-numbers-with-the-sieve-of-eratosthenes-originally-is-there-a-bett

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/288200/prime-number-calculation-fun

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/898731/how-can-i-find-prime-numbers-through-bit-operations-in-c

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/886540/prime-numbers-c

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/248400/finding-non-prime-numbers-in-c

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/502443/prime-numbers

If you need a list of known primes, have a look here

Answer 3

You should cache the primes to _list and then use it for both Factor and PrimeOrd. Additionally avoid operators LINQ operators like TakeWhile that create values that you throw away.

Here's an optimized version:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

static class P
{
    private static List<int> _list = new List<int>();

    public static int Nth(int n)
    {
        if (_list.Count == 0 || _list.Count <= n)
        {
            GenerateNextPrimes().First(p => _list.Count >= n);            
        }

        return _list[n];
    }

    public static int PrimeOrd(int prime)
    {
        var primes = GrowPrimesTo(prime);
        return primes.IndexOf(prime);
    }

    public static List<int> Factor(int N)
    {
        List<int> ret = new List<int>();        
        GrowPrimesTo(N);

        for (int ixDivisor = 0; ixDivisor < _list.Count; ixDivisor++)
        {
            int currentDivisor = _list[ixDivisor];

            while (N % currentDivisor == 0)
            {
                N /= currentDivisor;
                ret.Add(currentDivisor);
            }

            if (N <= 1)
            {
                break;
            }
        }

        return ret;
    }

    private static List<int> GrowPrimesTo(int max)
    {
        if (_list.LastOrDefault() >= max)
        {
            return _list;
        }

        GenerateNextPrimes().First(prime => prime >= max);
        return _list;        
    }

    private static IEnumerable<int> GenerateNextPrimes()
    {
        if (_list.Count == 0)
        {
            _list.Add(2);
            yield return 2;
        }

        Func<int, bool> IsPrime =
            n =>
            {
                // cache upperBound
                int upperBound = (int)Math.Sqrt(n);
                for (int ixPrime = 0; ixPrime < _list.Count; ixPrime++)
                {
                    int currentDivisor = _list[ixPrime];
                    if (currentDivisor > upperBound)
                    {
                        return true;
                    }

                    if ((n % currentDivisor) == 0)
                    {
                        return false;
                    }
                }

                return true;
            };

        // Always start on next odd number
        int startNum = _list.Count == 1 ? 3 : _list[_list.Count - 1] + 2;
        for (int i = startNum; i < Int32.MaxValue; i += 2)
        {
            if (IsPrime(i))
            {
                _list.Add(i);
                yield return i;
            }
        }
    }

    public static string Convert(int n)
    {
        if (n == 0) return ".";
        if (n == 1) return "()";

        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        var p = Factor(n);
        var max = PrimeOrd(p.Last());
        for (int i = 0; i <= max; i++)
        {
            var power = p.FindAll(x => x == Nth(i)).Count;
            sb.Append(Convert(power));
        }
        return "(" + sb.ToString() + ")";
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {        
        string line = Console.ReadLine();
        int num;

        if(int.TryParse(line, out num))
        {   
            Console.WriteLine("{0}: '{1}'", num, P.Convert(num));             
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("You didn't entered number!");
        }
    }
}