Took 405 pages to print out... yeesh... 
That's insane. 
Can't there be a bigger prime number, or do the numbers stop? Or is this comparing it to other large primes found?
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Falaanla Marr came out of the closet to say:
Or is this comparing it to other large primes found?
Exactly. Finding very large prime numbers is hard, and this is the biggest one found so far.
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ACES! Another post by Drysart:
Exactly. Finding very large prime numbers is hard, and this is the biggest one found so far.
ah, ok. I was a bit confused with the way things were worded.
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Ctrl-Alt-Del was listening to Cher while typing:
[qb]The search never ends. Right after the largest number is discovered, the search resumes for the next-largest number. Findley's discovery came six months after the last number was found. [/QB]
I would like to point out it take about 60 servers with 4 dedicated processors each, working 24/7, using about almost a terabyre of RAM to push the numbers we're dealing with through it efficiently, I wouldn't want to do it by hand... or simple calculator.... hell even the server bank that the world financial networks use.
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Jens spewed forth this undeniable truth:
Is there a point I'm missing?
It's a big number.
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Darius! was naked while typing this:
It's a big number.
Why would you spend those kinds of resources on calculating something useless? Assuming it is useless, I mean
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We were all impressed when Jens wrote:
Why would you spend those kinds of resources on calculating something useless? Assuming it is useless, I mean
Because it's their idea of fun.
Assume there are a finite number of primes of which P is the largest. Q is a number larger than P. Q is equal to the product of every consecutive whole number from 2 to P plus the number 1 (so Q=(2*3*4*5*6.....*p)+1 ). It is obvious from this that no integer from 2 to P divides evenly into it since there would always be a remainder of 1.
If Q is not a prime itself then there must a prime larger than P by which it is evenly divisible and of course if Q is prime than it itself is the prime larger than P.
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Jens got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
Why would you spend those kinds of resources on calculating something useless? Assuming it is useless, I mean
Large primes are useful for making sure that a computer's arithmetic is working properly, but ones this large would probably be a bit large for such a test, heh.
Remember, people are running this program on their home computers, so it's really not that big of a waste. As for why people are doing it... the Mersenne prime project is splitting the prize for largest prime contests with people who donate computer time. Why would there be such contests is beyond me, though. Waisz fucked around with this message on 06-11-2004 at 02:12 PM.
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Jens had this to say about Pirotess:
Why would you spend those kinds of resources on calculating something useless? Assuming it is useless, I mean
Online encryption for sensitive information is derived from the multiplication of large prime numbers.
Computers are very good at multiplication, but not so much so at factoring.
Ever watch Contact? Was it contact? It was that movie about Jodie Foster where they get signal from space in pulses of prime numbers. I.E. 1 pulse, 2 pulses, 3 pulses, 5 pulses, 7 pulses, 11 pulses... etc.
Numbers are one of the very few ways of communicating to anything and everything in the universe. Saying one foot to an alien won't mean much. But saying 1 billionth of a lightyear WOULD. Primes are another way of showing intelligence. As is figuring out what Pi is, etc.
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Delphi Aegis obviously shouldn't have said:
they get signal
main screen turn on ?
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Blah blah blah KaLourin blah blah blah...
main screen turn on ?
How are you gentleman!
Yes, I did it on purpose.
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Delphi Aegis thought this was the Ricky Martin Fan Club Forum and wrote:
It'll be useful later.Ever watch Contact? Was it contact? It was that movie about Jodie Foster where they get signal from space in pulses of prime numbers. I.E. 1 pulse, 2 pulses, 3 pulses, 5 pulses, 7 pulses, 11 pulses... etc.
Numbers are one of the very few ways of communicating to anything and everything in the universe. Saying one foot to an alien won't mean much. But saying 1 billionth of a lightyear WOULD. Primes are another way of showing intelligence. As is figuring out what Pi is, etc.
Uhh, no? I think you're overevaluating their usefulness. The prime dealy was just a way of showing that the signal wasn't insignificant noise. There are a lot of ways to do that.
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Arttemis came out of the closet to say:
Computers are very good at multiplication, but not so much so at factoring.
Nobody's good at factoring the product of two large prime numbers. The fact that there's no easy way to do that is what keeps most encryption methods secure.
