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12M Digit Prime Number Sets Record, Nets $100,000
coondoggie writes "A 12-million-digit prime number, the largest such number ever discovered, has landed a voluntary math research group a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The number, known as a Mersenne prime, is the 45th known Mersenne prime, written shorthand as 2 to the power of 43,112,609, minus 1 . A Mersenne number is a positive integer that is one less than a power of two, the group stated. The computing project called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) made the discovery on a computer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Mathematics Department."
The biggest prime number I know is 8675309. I'll have to tell Jenny about this new one.
The CB App. What's your 20?
(2^43,112,609 - 1)th post!
n00b
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Great,everyone starts using the new largest known prime number in their private key! That's like SUPER secure!
Call me a n00b, but I'm unsure there are any ways to use this newfound information about prime numbers.
Next time good ol' (2^43,112,609 - 1) comes up in conversation, I'll make sure to impress everyone with my new knowledge, but other than that, I feel no smarter for having read this article.
You think you feel bad? Talk to the guy who just signed that $100,000 check for this...
Hmmmm.
Will knowing these numbers help me procreate before I die?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Hmmmm.
Will knowing these numbers help me procreate before I die?
I don't know about the three or the seven, but the two certainly will... after all, it takes two to tango.
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
They could have made the reward $100,003 instead...
Now that everyone knows this number, I have to change my luggage combination again. Thanks for nothing EFF!
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
It is probably more of a contraceptive...
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that knowing these numbers will prevent you from procreating before you die.
Free Martian Whores!
"Voluntary" math research group? Is there any other kind?
I'm trying to imagine an "involuntary" math research group, and all I'm getting is scenes from dystopian science fiction ... or possibly a scene from the life of Léon Theremin.
-kgj
It is the second largest prime: Both of all primes and Mersennes.
Wow, does that mean we're close to discovering the largest prime?
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
Finally! A thread where "7 of 9" and "procreation" aren't offtopic!