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Largest prime number found so far

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posted on Dec, 11 2003 @ 11:05 PM
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It would have been nice to have participated in this event
It almost makes your brain hurt thinking of a number that large.




Thursday, December 11, 2003 Posted: 10:24 AM EST (1524 GMT)

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- More than 200,000 computers spent years looking for the largest known prime number. It turned up on Michigan State University graduate student Michael Shafer's off-the-shelf PC.

The number is 6,320,430 digits long and would need 1,400 to 1,500 pages to write out. It is more than 2 million digits larger than the previous largest known prime number.

www.cnn.com...






[Edited on 11-12-2003 by thehippiedude]



posted on Dec, 11 2003 @ 11:07 PM
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The largest prime number found, so far, that is. They will probably find a larger one soon.



posted on Dec, 11 2003 @ 11:13 PM
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hehe so far im sure they'll find another one soon
That would a great download to have on your pc kinda like the seti prog.



posted on Dec, 11 2003 @ 11:32 PM
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Another prime, yay!!!

The program that they run is called GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Seach)

www.mersenne.org...

I would run it on my comp with SETI, but it doesn't seem to work.


By the way, there is no such thing as the "largest" prime number. It has been proven that there is a infinite number of prime numbers. They just keep getting bigger and bigger...



posted on Dec, 11 2003 @ 11:40 PM
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Without reading the featured link I'm guessing it's Mersenne Prime #38. I talked about it on some maths obsession thread a long while ago.

There is a big difference between efforts to find the biggest "Mersenne Primes" as opposed to the biggest primes, the M primes take the particular form that an obsessed monk put forward centuries ago and are the easiest (but not very easy) to find.

At tennis one day I listened to a guy who proved to me conclusively that there was a largest prime number. I didn't understand the specifics of his theory but he was certainly passionate with it. I beat him at tennis.



posted on Dec, 11 2003 @ 11:49 PM
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Originally posted by MaskedAvatar

There is a big difference between efforts to find the biggest "Mersenne Primes" as opposed to the biggest primes, the M primes take the particular form that an obsessed monk put forward centuries ago and are the easiest (but not very easy) to find.



Yes, this is true.

A Mersenne prime is defined by 2^p-1, where p is a prime number. If p is prime, then 2^p-1 is also prime. This has been mathematically proven to be true, but paridoxically, it is an inconsistant. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. There has yet to be a foolproof formula that truens out primes every time. Of course, if you have a formula that produces primes, it is limited to a certain domain and range.

Here's a proof that primes are infinite.

Assume that primes are not infinite (i.e. there is a finite number of
primes). We will come to a contradiction.

If there is a finite number of primes, then we can multiply them all
together. This will be a number divisible by every single prime. Now
add 1. We now have a number that, when you divide it by any prime,
will have a remainder of 1 (make sure you believe this).

This number is a problem, because it can't be prime, and it isn't
divisible by any prime. So what is it? All composites (divisible
numbers) are divisible by some primes, so it can't be prime or
composite. Therefore this number can't exist. This is a contradiction,
so our original assumption (that prime numbers are finite) is wrong.

Thus prime numbers are infinite in number.




[Edited on 12-11-03 by Saucerat]



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 12:01 AM
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Saucerat

Thanks!

Yeah, I tend to lean towards infinity and eternity on things, like in my mini-profile.

The guy who proved to me that the number of primes is finite used mathematics and not language or logic. Hence he lost me at maybe Step 5.



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 03:11 AM
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I don't understand why this number is significant? It's just a number. How does this discovery benefit human kind? I hate maths sorry.



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 08:30 AM
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Good discussion, folks! More links would be appreciated on this topic.



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 08:42 AM
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Originally posted by earthtone
I don't understand why this number is significant? It's just a number. How does this discovery benefit human kind? I hate maths sorry.


Prime numbers are only significant because they;re extremely rare as they get larger and larger. Sorry, no proactical use of them yet.



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 08:59 AM
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Couldn't they of just made a simple program, like the following - (Python)
-------------------------------------------------
def main():
import sys
min, max = 2, 0x7fffffff
if sys.argv[1:]:
min = int(sys.argv[1]))
if sys.argv[2:]:
max = int(sys.argv[2]))
primes(min, max)

def primes(min, max):
if 2 >= min: print 2
primes = [2]
i = 3
while i i: break
if i%p 0:
primes.append(i)
if i >= min: print i
i = i+2

main()
-------------------------------------------------

And left it running on a super fast mainframe 24/7? It just seems amazing that it took that long! And using all those computers. It would be cool if there was no end to the prime numbers... They could turn it into an occasion - Every year show a program on TV that shows live coverage of it calculating numbers


I am no Math genious... But I do like Math.



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 09:01 AM
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Sorry about my above post... The Tabs didn't show. So sorry for all the people tryign to read the code, without tabs it looks messy, lol.



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 09:04 AM
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MetalHead, can you give an explaination on what your code does?

The Mersenne Prime formula is inconsistant, sometimes it doesn't generate a prime. Take 2^11-1 for example.

Because of that, each and every "prime" that's found has to be checked by dividing by all of it's possible factors and such. Considering the huindreds of thousands of digits involved, it's no easy task.

[Edited on 12-12-03 by Saucerat]



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 09:15 AM
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Well the program takes 2 arguments. a min value, and a max value. These are the values in which you want to search for prime numbers. If you wanted it to find new ones (e.g. no max value). You could re-write the program to use an infinate loop.

It then puts "2" in the primes list (to start it off).
The program loops through every number (starting at 3) (added each time by 2, as even numbers cannot be primes).

If when the current number is calculated using modulus returns 0, (calculated with the last number in the primes list) it is not prime, or if the current prime squared is the same as the current loop number, it is also not prime.

If it returns a value other than 0, it is prime. So is added to the prime list. It then prints it out.

Sorry... Not too good at explaning it.



[Edited on 12-12-2003 by MetalHead]



posted on Dec, 12 2003 @ 11:36 PM
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I kinda get your point, MH. Thanks for the explaination.

It might work, but I think it would take equally a long time as GIMPS to test if each potential prime is factorable. Using one computer isn't that efficient, a SETI like system is alot more powerful.

I take back what I said about primes having no practical use. They are actually used to encrypt data. It's allegedly one of the most secure ways to secure data.

The process involves a encrypting key, that is made public and a decrypting key, that is made private only to the user that is sending/recieving. You take your message, encrypt it with the public encrypting key, and the reciever decrypts it with their decrypting key.

Prime numbers are used in the keys. It should be known that it's easy to add or multiply two prime numbers to make another number, but it's extremely difficult finding the prime factors of a number. So, you multiply the primes in the key in conjunction with the message, and you get this huge mess, which can only be decrypted with the other key.

The larger the prime used, the more effective.

This is only a rough idea how it works. There are oher more elaborate ways to encrypt using primes as well.



posted on Dec, 13 2003 @ 12:02 AM
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Is anyone here an inspired looney math geek? Like the ones that mutter about God being a fractal? See symphonies in Crop Circles? Etc.

I want to hear your 'rantings'.

Unreal numbers, the order of chaos, etc. fascinate me.



posted on Dec, 13 2003 @ 12:05 AM
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Originally posted by RANT
Is anyone here an inspired looney math geek? Like the ones that mutter about God being a fractal? See symphonies in Crop Circles? Etc.

I want to hear your 'rantings'.

Unreal numbers, the order of chaos, etc. fascinate me.


WOW!!

Another mathling!

Yeah, I think fractals are awesome.


Ask anyone, I'm math obsessed.



posted on Dec, 13 2003 @ 12:28 AM
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Originally posted by Saucerat

WOW!!

Another mathling!

Yeah, I think fractals are awesome.


Ask anyone, I'm math obsessed.


Well, I'm more of a wannabe. I get really into 'down to earth' explanations of theories but don't get much from technical websites and books. It's not part of my training. Is there anything like "Fractals for dummies?"



posted on Dec, 13 2003 @ 09:49 PM
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metalhead:

i think the point you are trying to make is that it is not difficult to write a program that determines if a given number is a prime or not. i agree.

however, we are dealing with numbers MILLIONS OF DIGITS IN LENGTH!

for comparison, a 32-bit register can hold a number (2^32 = 4,294,967,296) 10 digits in length.(approximately, actually between 9 - 10 digits)

a very rough calculation would determine the number of registers required to hold a number-- 6,320,430 digits long -- to be in the hundreds of thousands.

special routines have to be written to handle these staggering calculations, which are extremely resource-consuming. only two 32 bit numbers (MAX=FFFFFFFF) can be multipied or divided at a time. to multilpy two 100,000 word long numbers would require an astronomiical number of intermediate values to be stored, and summed together in a later step. division is even more complicated.

because we are dealing with unsigned numbers, the numbers would be stored this way ( a sign bit would only add unnecessary and painful compexity).

that's why the problem is spread out by solving it on many computers at once.



posted on Dec, 14 2003 @ 04:09 AM
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Sorry The General... Like I said, I am not Math genious, lol.
Thanks for that enlightment though




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