1. I got lost at the part where the book said to find the linear dependencies mod 2 among the rows that were produced from the exponents of the prime factors in each congruent relation. After further analysis, it seems like they are just the rows whose entries add up to 0 mod 2. However, the book has "1st + 5th + 6th" on the left. I'm guessing that these are the rows that were added up. Can't tell. I also don't understand why they were looking for these specific characteristics among the rows.
2. I sort of understand the process behind the quadratic sieve (except for small details as mentioned). I see the basic reason behind the sieve (trying to find a nontrivial factor of n). It just seems a little arbitrary still. That is to say, it seems like some of the processes are being pulled out of nowhere. I think that's part of what makes some of this stuff hard to understand (not just for me, but for everyone in general). We spend so much thinking power trying to determine where the author is coming from and the reasons behind certain steps.
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