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“Largest prime
number yet
discovered”
The biggest prime number yet has been discovered
(Wednesday). It is indeed massive, more than 17
million digits long. For those who have been out of
school for a while, let's review: A prime number is a
positive integer that cannot be divided evenly by any
number except itself and 1. The first 10 prime
numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29. The
newest find is 2 to the power of 57,885,161 minus 1.
That means 2, multiplied by 2 more than 57 million
times, minus 1. The lucky number-hunter who came
upon it is Curtis Cooper of the Great Internet
Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). Cooper, a professor
at the University of Central Missouri, used his
computer to identify the number through software.
According to GIMPS, it took 39 days of nonstop
computing to prove the prime number is indeed
prime. Prime-number hunters do get to reap some
rewards. The new number is eligible for a $3,000
prize from GIMPS.