full article
Quote:
LOS ANGELES - Mathematicians at UCLA have discovered a 13-million-digit prime number, a long-sought milestone that makes them eligible for a $100,000 prize.
The group found the 46th known Mersenne prime last month on a network of 75 computers running Windows XP. The number was verified by a different computer system running a different algorithm.
"We're delighted," said UCLA's Edson Smith, the leader of the effort. "Now we're looking for the next one, despite the odds."
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I'm all for the pursuit of knowledge, but I have to ask, Why search for bigger and bigger prime numbers? (Well technically not "prime numbers" but "Mersenne primes") But all the same, what's the purpose?
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