Biggest Mersenne prime to date discovered

[paulney]

There's news on the web: a new Mersenne prime is discovered, the biggest so far:

New prime. It's all cool and dandy: the winning team gets 100k from Electronic Frontier foundation, and everyone's happy.

However, as hard as I tried, I could not find a page with reference on the practical use of the perfect prime. Regular primes are used in open-key cryptography, we know that. But what's the fuss about perfect prime?

 

[Q]

This is why our economy is sucking. Paying 100k for finding a number?

 

[Drakkon]

http://www.mersenne.org/faq.htm

What are Mersenne primes? How are they useful?

A Mersenne prime is a prime number of the form 2P-1. There are 46 known Mersenne primes. The first few values of P which yield a Mersenne prime are 2, 3, 5, 7, 13 (the corresponding primes are 3, 7, 31, 127, 8191). A Lucas-Lehmer primality test is used to determine if 2P-1 is prime. For further information, visit Chris Caldwell's superb web page on Mersenne primes.

Finding new Mersenne primes is not likely to be of any immediate practical value. This search is primarily a recreational pursuit. However, the search for Mersenne primes has proved useful in development of new algorithms, testing computer hardware, and interesting young students in math.

 

[paulney]

Originally posted by: Quintox
This is why our economy is sucking. Paying 100k for finding a number?

I bet this didn't even cover the electric bill for running so many computers.

 

[newb111]

Originally posted by: Quintox
This is why our economy is sucking. Paying 100k for finding a number?

Right because clearly that's the only reason.

 

[paulney]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
http://www.mersenne.org/faq.htm

What are Mersenne primes? How are they useful?

Finding new Mersenne primes is not likely to be of any immediate practical value. This search is primarily a recreational pursuit. However, the search for Mersenne primes has proved useful in development of new algorithms, testing computer hardware, and interesting young students in math.

I doubt they are using any new algorithms except what Euler proposed and spreading the task between tons of computers on the web.

 

[SagaLore]

If they can find the first 50 Mersenne primes, it unlocks an ancient cipher found in an egyptian tomb. The "puzzle" states that there is a hidden vault of exactly 524287 debens of Gold, which happens to be the 7th Mersenne prime.

 

[IronWing]

:music:
Got prime in pocket
Got bottle I'm gonna use it
Intention I feel inventive
Gonna make you, make you, make you notice :music:

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: newb111

Originally posted by: Quintox
This is why our economy is sucking. Paying 100k for finding a number?

Right because clearly that's the only reason.

It's also the cause of Death and Cancer! We must stop this madness before it kills us all!!!!!!!

 

[Saint Michael]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
If they can find the first 50 Mersenne prime, it unlocks an ancient cipher found in an egyptian tomb. The "puzzle" states that there is a hidden vault of exactly 524287 debens, which happens to be the 7th Mersenne prime.

Are you serious or is this some sort of esoteric in-joke?

 

[Drakkon]

From what i understand the search for a Mersenne prime is less about practicality and more of proving a conjecture. Mathematicians are all about proving and disproving conjectures. Between the search for proof that there is an infinite number of primes and that pi never repeats itself it gives mathematicians something to go and forth about. By proving there is just one more it kinda lends a little bit more to the fact the conjecture holds and all the nay-say-ers are wrong - something big in the "pure math" circles

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Saint Michael

Originally posted by: SagaLore
If they can find the first 50 Mersenne primes, it unlocks an ancient cipher found in an egyptian tomb. The "puzzle" states that there is a hidden vault of exactly 524287 debens of Gold, which happens to be the 7th Mersenne prime.

Are you serious or is this some sort of esoteric in-joke?

No, I thought everyone knew this?

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: newb111

Originally posted by: Quintox
This is why our economy is sucking. Paying 100k for finding a number?

Right because clearly that's the only reason.

It's also the cause of Death and Cancer! We must stop this madness before it kills us all!!!!!!!

This practice of outing prime numbers in the media has got to stop. It is not helping maths.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: Quintox
Paying 100k for finding a number?

Our country pays a LOT more to find Jesus.

$100k to spur mathematical ingenuity in this country is a bargain.

 

[DomS]

ummmm


Mersenne primes ? named for their discoverer, 17th century French mathematician Marin Mersenne ? are expressed as 2P-1, or two to the power of "P" minus one. P is itself a prime number. For the new prime, P is 43,112,609.

Mathematicians at UCLA have discovered a 13 million-digit prime number


2*43,112,609-1 =/= something 13 million digits long. FAIL. it's basic math people.

 

[DomS]

oh shit is that 2^43,112,609-1??

 

[gar3555]

mathlete big dick contest?