New Mersenne prime found

arstechnica. ^ | December 20, 2005 @ 10:05AM | Rian J. Stockbower

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS)

is possibly the oldest distributed computing project in existence, and has mostly existed on the fringe of the mainstream distributed computing world. Part of this is likely due to the hardcore nerdiness factor of the project. Most people aren't interested in finding huge prime numbers, as potentially useful as they might be. They'd rather fold proteins, search for little green men, or look for spinning neutron stars—all of which have a more tangible appeal than what appears to be numbers for numbers' sake.

There are reasons to look for Mersenne primes, though. There are prizes, for example, though I doubt most people run the project in the hopes of collecting any money. A Mersenne prime is a prime number in the form of 2^P-1. If this number is indeed prime, this will mean that 43 Mersenne primes have been discovered. The GIMPS page itself acknowledges

that "Finding new Mersenne primes is not likely to be of any immediate practical value" and that it is "primarily a recreational pursuit." (Though one could certainly make the case that searching the skies for E.T. is also a recreational pursuit.) In any event, this will be the seventh Mersenne prime that GIMPS has discovered—all seven of which are at the top of the list in terms of size.

In any event, this is an exciting development in the world of numbers. Ars Technica Team Prime Rib is holding down the #2 spot overall. You can check out the team's FAQ if you're interested in joining. Congrats to all of the GIMPS participants, and happy hunting!

[theFIRMbss]

Life goes on day after day
Hearts torn in every way

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'cause this land's the place I love
and here I'll stay

People they rush everywhere
Each with their own secret care

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
and always take me there
The place I love

People around every corner
They seem to smile and say
We don't care what your name is boy
We'll never turn you away

So I'll continue to say
Here I always will stay

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'cause this land's the place I love
and here I'll stay
and here I'll stay
Here I'll stay

[mikrofon]

MM₇ is actually a "quadruple Mersenne", as it is-

Thus, I predict that MM_MM7 will also be a Mersenne...

[Marine_Uncle]

"A break from Politics...."
So you want to break my head. LOL. How about some prime rib.

[blam]

Thanks for the ping but, I'm gonna go with the filet mignon too.

[SunkenCiv]

[rimshot!] for your great tagline!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the ping.

Prime Numbers (another interesting page)
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Prime_numbers.html

-- Adding up digits of prime numbers for no reason (a numerological approach to non-understanding):

2=2
3=3
5=5
7=7
11=2
13=4
17=8
19=10=1
23=5
29=11=2
31=4
37=10=1
41=5
43=7
47=11=2
53=8
57=12=3

(more to come)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I predict that MMMM7 will also be a Mersenne...

Mikrofon's Last Theorem. Or is the "The Mikrofon Hypothesis"?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Thanks. I was using "Tooke, Tooke, Tookie, good bye; Tooke, Tooke, Tookie, don't cry" the day before he shuffled off this mortal coil, it occured to me to change it on the day. Some guy on the Howie Carr show did an hilarous parody of the Jolson standard along these lines, accompanying himself on banjo the afternoon of the day he died, don't know if he was inspired by me or not. It is rather obvious.

My fav is still the one below.

[mikrofon]

Not in the vein of "Custer's Last Stand", I trust...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

No, in the vein of "Fermatt's Last Theorem"

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Or the Riemann Hypothesis.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[SunkenCiv]

:'D Sounds like a case of art imitating FReep.