CODEWITHSUNDEEP
encryptioncpu-architecture
ronenfe
ronenfe

Reputation: 2424

How can 32 or 64 bit CPUs do arithmetic operation on big numbers?

Encryption and decryption with a key of 128bit means that the key can't be stored in a long int variable. So what arithmetic operations exactly can be done with this key.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 272

Answers (1)

Robert
Robert

Reputation: 42799

Let me just ask you a question back: How do you multiply or divide if you have only your brain, a pen and paper - and the number is larger than what you can compute directly using your brain?

The same scheme you use for pen and paper mathematics can be applied for numbers that are longer than the CPU register.

For certain crypto algorithms there are also optimized and specialized mathematical operations like Montgomery Multiplication for RSA

Upvotes: 2

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