Finally! The largest prime number is discovered.

They beat me to it, but congratulations all the same. "McNews" (a twist of McPaper and McArticle - Rapier57 and TH13) reports the scoop - which was taken from the AP:

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/01....ap/index.html

Story:

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Researchers discover largest prime number
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Researchers at a Missouri university have identified the largest known prime number, officials said Tuesday.

The team at Central Missouri State University, led by associate dean Steven Boone and mathematics professor Curtis Cooper, found it in mid-December after programming 700 computers years ago.

A prime number is a positive number divisible by only itself and 1 -- 2, 3, 5, 7 and so on.

The number that the team found is 9.1 million digits long. It is a Mersenne prime known as M30402457 -- that's 2 to the 30,402,457th power minus 1.

Mersenne primes are a special category expressed as 2 to the "p" power minus 1, in which "p" also is a prime number.

"We're super excited," said Boone, a chemistry professor. "We've been looking for such a number for a long time."

The discovery is affiliated with the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, a global contest using volunteers who run software that searches for the largest Mersenne prime.

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Well... I guess I will sharpen my crayons and start working on the next Mersenne prime.

When I saw your thread title, my world stopped turning, as I thought that all my math education had been in vain for researchers had discovered that there is such a thing as "the largest prime number"...

There is no largest prime number, just like there is no largest number. It's the largest known prime number ;)

My question would be...why waste the resources of 700 computers over a period of years that could be put to better use folding DNA , or other medical or practical applications, rather than trying to find a prime number that has no practical application at all.

This Central Missouri State University is displaying exactly what's wrong with the educational system today...wasted resources and a total lack of consideration for practical applications.

Eg ;)

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Originally posted here by Egaladeist
My question would be...why waste the resources of 700 computers over a period of years that could be put to better use folding DNA , or other medical or practical applications, rather than trying to find a prime number that has no practical application at all.

This Central Missouri State University is displaying exactly what's wrong with the educational system today...wasted resources and a total lack of consideration for practical applications.

Eg ;)

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the application of number theory [prime numbers] is crucial to the world of cryptography. inane comments like yours aren't.

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he application of number theory [prime numbers] is crucial to the world of cryptography. inane comments like yours aren't.

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Number theory extends way beyond cryptography, good manners is close to hand?

;)

Hi csl,

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The number that the team found is 9.1 million digits long. It is a Mersenne prime known as M30402457 -- that's 2 to the 30,402,457th power minus 1.

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Sorry...perhaps I am ignorant of this...in fact I'm sure I am...but I fail to see how knowing a number 9.1 million digits long will put food on my table or provide the necessary medication for my children if they become ill...which is what I meant by practical applications.

Perhaps you can explain to us less informed how this actually benefits mankind.

Eg ;)

perhaps you might not understand there is an entire industry making millions of dollars off discoveries like this. how do you think the trio from rsa made their initial fortune? but perhaps you are also unaware of the fact that money may be traded for goods and services? ignorance is bliss kind sir. :)

I'm with Negative on this one : I thought some insane new mathematical discovery had been exposed, but, no, it's just more brute force.

Blue sky research is important. It's just that you might not make use of the discovery for some time.

Lots of useful things have been dicovered in the process of conducting blue sky research. I can't think of any examples right now but there are lots. I think Taq Pol for DNA replication was an incidental discovery.

Hi csl,

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perhaps you might not understand there is an entire industry making millions of dollars off discoveries like this. how do you think the trio from rsa made their initial fortune? but perhaps you are also unaware of the fact that money may be traded for goods and services? ignorance is bliss kind sir

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So...people are making money off of this...and money runs the economy...but that's not what I asked...i asked how does this help mankind?

Eg ;)

Hi Aspman,

Sorry....missed your post...

so are you saying that this new discovery in prime numbers will have a direct connection to DNA research?

Eg ;)

Hi

Quote:

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My question would be...why waste the resources of 700 computers over a period of
years that could be put to better use folding DNA , or other medical or practical
applications, rather than trying to find a prime number that has no practical
application at all.

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Egaladeist, I understand your point of view, but there is more to it.

In this particular example, a huge prime number[1] has been found (this is not even
interesting to me :D ). But a question remains: How has it been found? What
were the developments made? They invented and/or improved existing algorithms[2]
([enter your favorite one]) - are their ideas generaliseable to other, more
"relevant" fields?

While a few projects, like protein folding[3] (contribute!) can be easily
distributed (like in the above search for the largest prime number), others can't.
The latter may require shared-memory or fast-network equipment. Improvements
in other fields (like number theory) may provide the necessary information to
reduce those requirements, effectively allowing the independent study
of such things (Independent in the meaning, that smaller companies/universities
can afford to buy the computational needs).


Example: IBM's new machine: blue gene[4]. It has been developed in collaboration
with "lattice physicists" (the QCDOC project) and provides a substantial, and well-priced
contribution in biology/medical research. Interestingly, those physicists wanted (and still
want) to calculate physical processes during the expansion of the universe or in particle
colliders (RHIC, CERN). Those physicists were only able to do so, because a Mathematician
Grassmann[5] developed a strange Algebra, which had nothing to do with the real world
and some guys spent a lot of time to understand how to calculate efficiently the determinant
of a matrix on a computer.


Cheers


[1] http://primes.utm.edu/largest.html
[2] http://www.mersenne.org/
[3] http://folding.stanford.edu/
[4] http://www.research.ibm.com/bluegene/
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann

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This Central Missouri State University is displaying exactly what's wrong with the educational system today...wasted resources and a total lack of consideration for practical applications.

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At last, I understand exactly what happened to Canada. :p

Hi RoadClosed,

Exactly...we need better igloos not higher prime numbers :p

Eg ;)

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but perhaps you are also unaware of the fact that money may be traded for goods and services?

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Wouldn't it make more sense to just print more money?
Then we could all be billionaires. Just because money changes
hands in some "industry" doesn't make the activity good for the ecomomy.
Otherwise why do we suppress organized crime, when it is so profitable?
:cool:

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When I saw your thread title, my world stopped turning, as I thought that all my math education had been in vain for researchers had discovered that there is such a thing as "the largest prime number"...

There is no largest prime number, just like there is no largest number. It's the largest known prime number

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Awwwwwwwwwwwww - c'mon - McNews and other news agencies said it was! And you believe everything you read - don't you?!?

...
..
.

Fine - it's the Largest "Current" Prime Number - I was just reporting what I saw - but I don't think McNews will update the article. BTW Wisenheimer - I did state:

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Well... I guess I will sharpen my crayons and start working on the next Mersenne prime.

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Now if you don't mind, I am going off to finish coloring my picture - I think I can keep it in the lines this time - and start on the next prime.

GenXer! I read your initial post and was not confused. I like your response, but:

Quote:

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You must spread your AntiPoints around before giving it to genXer again.

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However, I am a little confused with Negative's post:

Quote:

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When I saw your thread title, my world stopped turning, as I thought that all my math education had been in vain for researchers had discovered that there is such a thing as "the largest prime number"...

There is no largest prime number, just like there is no largest number. It's the largest known prime number ;)

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Having read the article, I think the first line of that article should have given that away:

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Researchers at a Missouri university have identified the largest known prime number

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Maybe it was a confusing Thread title, or maybe just someones love of math... either way... :rolleyes:

But that's just me be me.

-Deeboe

The article's title was wrong (CNN's, that is), the article gets posted here with an edited title and it's still wrong...

And stop giving AP's in Cosmos, definitely when the assignments could be considered a conflict of interest ;)

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The article's title was wrong (CNN's, that is), the article gets posted here with an edited title and it's still wrong...

And stop giving AP's in Cosmos, definitely when the assignments could be considered a conflict of interest

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Ahh ease up, you already got a huge brain and proved it by slamming the title and CNN, *bows before Negative's huge Borg like brain*, now get to work on the next largest prime.

Here this Wikipedia entry has information to get you started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number

And now let's test your AP rule in Cosmos:

"Belgium: Thanks for the waffles... Now f**k off!" --Adam Corolla

Heh-heh - j/k I love Belgium - been there twice!

Stop talking about Belgium. Makes me want to set outside and drink Jupiler.

Stop talking about Belgium. Makes me want to set outside and drink Jupiler.

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In this particular example, a huge prime number[1] has been found (this is not even
interesting to me ). But a question remains: How has it been found? What
were the developments made? They invented and/or improved existing algorithms[2]
([enter your favorite one]) - are their ideas generaliseable to other, more
"relevant" fields?

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So in other words, finding the largest prime number was really just an example or a test... or a POC, if you will :D... displaying the power of the method used to get this number? And as a result we can now look at ways to use these method's and technology to produce new discoveries that might have more of direct impact on the world?

I'm just making sure I understand you correctly :).

Quote:

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In this particular example, a huge prime number[1] has been found (this is not even
interesting to me ). But a question remains: How has it been found? What
were the developments made? They invented and/or improved existing algorithms[2]
([enter your favorite one]) - are their ideas generaliseable to other, more
"relevant" fields?

---

So in other words, finding the largest prime number was really just an example or a test... or a POC, if you will :D... displaying the power of the method used to get this number? And as a result we can now look at ways to use these method's and technology to produce new discoveries that might have more of direct impact on the world?

I'm just making sure I understand you correctly :).

Hi

The Duck, you did understand me perfectly :) The steps, a single
individual or research group can take, are small. But by summing them
up, "a more direct impact on the world" is feasible. I wanted to illustrate
this by my example: 100 years ago, a Mathematician made a small step
(by defining a special kind of an algebra), the last few years, IBM developed
a new kind of supercomputer via a few more steps because of this.

You might consider that those 100'000$ for the first Mersenne prime number
with 10 million digits is some kind of motivation as well ;)


Cheers

Hi

The Duck, you did understand me perfectly :) The steps, a single
individual or research group can take, are small. But by summing them
up, "a more direct impact on the world" is feasible. I wanted to illustrate
this by my example: 100 years ago, a Mathematician made a small step
(by defining a special kind of an algebra), the last few years, IBM developed
a new kind of supercomputer via a few more steps because of this.

You might consider that those 100'000$ for the first Mersenne prime number
with 10 million digits is some kind of motivation as well ;)


Cheers