Quote:
//I randomly introduce the happenings of the article.
<Me>: The number is 6,320,430 digits long and would need 1,400 to 1,500 pages to write out. It is more than 2 million digits larger than the previous largest known prime number.
<Me>: largest prime number discovered.
<Me>: Tens of thousands of people volunteered the use of their PCs in a worldwide project that harnessed the power of 211,000 computers, in effect creating a supercomputer capable of performing 9 trillion calculations per second. Participants could run the mathematical analysis program on their computers in the background, as they worked on other tasks.
<Me>: In the case of Shafer's discovery, it was 2 to the 20,996,011th power minus 1. The find was independently verified by other participants in the project.
<Me>: (2 ^ 20996011)-1
<Him>: massive ass number
<Me>: ****ing huge
<Me>: Pretty neat
<Me>: not that it is useful.
<Him>: lol
<Me>: You'd be like here is a book.
<Me>: And it has the largest prime number.
<Me>: Then nobody would care
<Me>: No practical application.
<Him>: lol
<Him>: how long did it take
<Me>: I'll use this large as number to power the worl
<Me>: *world
<Me>: says 8yr old project
<Me>: so I would assume 8yrs old?
<Him>: i see
<Me>: Still
<Me>: 8 years, for naught.
<Him>: lol no, they succeeded
<Me>: Tell me when that number does something useful.
<Me>: Not yet...
<Me>: Yes, they accomplished their goal.
<Me>: But it is useless, meaningless garbage.
<Me>: Oh well
<Him>: whatever dude
<Me>: Well seriously.
<Him>: not like they could be doing something better
<Me>: Lol
<Me>: Yah they could
<Me>: I'll explain at school sometime how it works. [AI]
<Him>: and either way, 211000 comps would be overkill
<Me>: Not necessarily, but most likely.
<Me>: They could factor and RSA number.
<Me>: *an
<Him>: exactly
<Me>: and make money
<Him>: but that wasn't around when they started this project right
<Him>: anyway dude
<Him>: as soon as they did that
<Me>: Yes it was.
<Him>: couldn't rsa just use a different one
<Me>: RSA has been around for a while.
<Me>: Use a different what?
<Him>: number
<Me>: The point is that can one factor/comprimise RSA encryption at all
<Me>: Hell, anyone can change the number.
<Him>: right
<Him>: so if it took 211000 computers several years
<Him>: to crack one number
<Me>: The idea, as we both said, was to basically develope a new method of factoring.
<Him>: they just change numbers like once a month
<Him>: problem solved
<Me>: That was not the point of the challenge.
<Me>: Because, if all that computers on earth banded together to factor it, it would still take a long time.
<Him>: right
<Him>: dude these people didn't create a new way of factoring
<Him>: they just used massive computing power
<Me>: Look at it this way.
<Me>: 576 bit has not been cracked
<Him>: yeah
<Him>: why are you telling me this
<Me>: And this has been around for about 10 years
<Him>: but man, isn't this new prime number...like
<Me>: That it is not mere computing power, but the ability to deal with huge as numbers.
<Him>: several thousand bits
<Me>: Well..
<Me>: 2^big..
<Me>: 6,320,430
<Me>: I forget, but one integer is like 4 bits?
<Me>: something like that.
<Him>: yea
<Him>: so that's way ****ing bigger than some rsa encryption number
<Me>: 25281720
<Me>: Yes.
<Me>: It is however basically unusable.
<Him>: right...so if an rsa number is so much smaller
<Me>: Where as 1024-bit is able to be implimented on home PC's.
<Him>: why doesn't a smaller group of hackers combine to crack an rsa
<Me>: Better things to do? Lack of intrest? I dunno
<Him>: lol that's weird as hell
<Him>: if its that easy
<Him>: just combine computers
<Me>: Not that easy :-)
<Him>: dude
<Him>: it just takes an organizer
<Him>: then people willing to let their computer be used
<Him>: that's how easy
<Me>: No. You have to write software that handles multiple PC's and a bunch of other ****.
<Him>: RIGHT
<Me>: Because if it was easy, everyone would do it.
<Him>: AKA AN ORGANIZER
<Him>: you ****
<Me>: Think about it.
<Him>: you think about it
<Me>: If RSA was easy, everyone would do it.
<Me>: An easy $200K+
<Him>: and apparently they already have developed that software
<Him>: because they used it for this project
<Me>: For generating prime numbers.
<Him>: and im sure an intelligent computer programmer could write it
<Him>: no ****
<Him>: so that still can serve as a foundation
<Him>: and...if they can do it for making them, they can use it for factoring non primes
<Him>: someone made it, someone else can make it again
<Me>: Can I post this convo?
<Me>: I'm asking the probability/possabilty of it being done.
<Him>: go ahead dude
<Me>: ok.
<Me>: Cool:-)
Ok, so that was rather long. 