![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The 48 th Mersenne prime was discovered as part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), a project that has used volunteer computers to calculate and search for primes for 17 years. Cooper’s computer took 39 days of continuous calculation to verify the prime status of the number, which has over 17 million digits and was discovered January 25. GIMPS’ algorithm was developed in the early 1990s by Richard Crandall, an Apple Distinguished Scientist. states that the discovery was verified independently by a few different computers: a 32-core server took 6 days running MLucas software to confirm CUDALucas software running on an Nvidia GTX 560 Ti took 7.7 days and the GIMPS software on an Intel Core i7 CPU took 4.5 days. If the 17 million digits were written out, they would fill approximately 28 novel-length books. Thus far, 14 Mersenne primes have been discovered under GIMPS, including the 48th, with the last discovery occurring in April 2009. is there any point to this, beyond curiosity? OK, I know research is always good, no one originally thought prime numbers would be as useful as they ended up being and all that, plus this is pretty cheap anyway since it's just one volunteer using his own computer but is there any point to this, beyond curiosity?Ĭan you imagine someone in an earlier period, especially pre-computers and public key cryptography saying of prime numbers, which you admit turned out to be useful: DannyB Wise, Aged Ars Veteran jump to post.Interested participants can download the free program to help in the prime number hunt.Ĭooper will receive a grant of $3,000 for his help. But imagine where we would be if nobody curious invested serious effort just pursuing their curiosity. ![]()
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