Originally, this page was meant to be a summary of the mathematics behind the different encryption methods available. However, after having browsed for a while I realized the field was simply too broad, and decided to focus in on one of the many.
RSA is an algorithm developed 1977 by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman. Making the choice was fairly easy, partly because RSA is widely used in the relatively new techniques of public key encryption, and partly because the mathematics are fairly interesting. To avoid making this document longer than the recommended couple of pages, I'll assume the reader knows what public key cryptography is about.
So, step into the amazing world of number theory!
Patrik Hoyer
March 30, 1997