Largest known prime number found

[mudskipper]

Largest known prime number discovered in Missouri - BBC News

I didn't know it was lost - was it behind the sofa?

[mudskipper]

"The new prime number was found as part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (Gimps), a global quest to find a particular type of large prime numbers."

[DimPrawn]

I was invited the the GIMPS convention, but was turned away for being "unsuitably attired".

[northernladuk]

The Gimps project has calculated the 15 largest Mersenne primes in the 20 years it has been running and it is possible that there could be an infinite number of them to discover.

If you are working with an infinite number of numbers there is guaranteed to be an infinite number of primes. That's the interesting thing about the term infinite that most of us can't comprehend.

[northernladuk]

I was invited the the GIMPS convention, but was turned away for being "unsuitably attired".

Yeah same happened to MF

[clearedforlanding]

Yeah same happened to MF

Curry?

[AtW]

Largest known prime number discovered in Missouri - BBC News

I didn't know it was lost - was it behind the sofa?

Not mine...

[SlipTheJab]

If you are working with an infinite number of numbers there is guaranteed to be an infinite number of primes. That's the interesting thing about the term infinite that most of us can't comprehend.

Thanks for stating the obvious Einstein but the real story here is that knowing the current largest provides for extra leverage in areas such as security and specifically cryptography

[clearedforlanding]

Thanks for stating the obvious Einstein but the real story here is that knowing the current largest provides for extra leverage in areas such as security and specifically cryptography

Not yet. It's a bit too big for our current technology.

[SlipTheJab]

Not yet. It's a bit too big for our current technology.

Granted but we'll soon need the strength (NSA back doors not withstanding!)