Is there a simple algorithm that can determine if X is prime?

Question

I have been trying to work my way through Project Euler, and have noticed a handful of problems ask for you to determine a prime number as part of it.

1. I kno

Answer 1

Here's a simple optimization of your method that isn't quite the Sieve of Eratosthenes but is very easy to implement: first try dividing X by 2 and 3, then loop over j=1..sqrt(X)/6, trying to divide by 6*j-1 and 6*j+1. This automatically skips over all numbers divisible by 2 or 3, gaining you a pretty nice constant factor acceleration.