As with all "classic algorithms," its output was deterministic: it produced the same result for the same input every time. It would always finish, and it always produced the optimal, correct result.

Rahul Santhanam, University of Oxford The first primality tests using randomized algorithms (based on refinements to Fermat’s little theorem) ushered in a new era. Problem after problem turned out to ...

A new algorithm brings together the advantages of randomness and deterministic processes to reliably construct large prime numbers.