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."

Comments

Re:Man, oh, man...

[.sig]

I'd rather have 655357, as anything more than 655360 (640K) is just too much.

Re:Actually the 47th

[Arthur Grumbine]

Your single-minded obsession with achieving immortality through the propagation of your genes is quaint and soon to be irrelevant.

where is my money

[deodiaus2]

I claim knowing a higher prime!! 2^(2^43,112,609 - 1) - 1 or 2^(2^(2^43,112,609 - 1) - 1) - 1 better yet 2^(2^(2^(2^43,112,609 - 1) - 1) - 1) - 1 .. recursively .. Where do I get my money!!