sciam.com — Researchers may have turned up the 45th example of a Mersenne prime—a type of prime number rare enough that months or years of computerized searching are required to pick one out among the throngs of mere primes.
Aug 31, 2008 View in Crawl 4
venomoushealerAug 31, 2008
it's better than another LOLcats page or demotivational poster site...f**king 4chan...
shocAug 31, 2008
I have a question. What exactly is the application behind finding prime numbers that large? Are they used for anything?
nathanieljAug 31, 2008
@carlosos - when did I say that strong encryption isn't important? First off, having found ONE prime of this size can't be used to encrypt anything, because the potential hacker just needs to check this ONE prime, which takes no longer for him to do than it does for the intended recipient.Second, 10000000-bit encryption is stupid, no matter how you look at it. It's a waste of resources, and if something needs to be secured that badly, then you shouldn't be using RSA to encrypt it. Use a one-time pad.Seriously, the mathematicians behind this in the article even explicitly state that they're doing this for fun and there's no real benefit to it - ask ANY mathematician/information theorist and they will tell you that this has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on cryptography.
rinallstar13Aug 31, 2008
<a class="user" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A283W2NKLYU">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A283W2NKLYU</a>video about it
donniehoward08Aug 31, 2008
2.718281828459045235360287471352662497757247093699959574966967627724076630353547594571382178525166427427466391932003059921817413596629043572900334295260595630738132328627943490763233829880753195251019011573834187930702154089149934884167509244761460668082264800168477411853742345442437107539077744992069551702761838606261331384583000752044933826560297606737113200709328709127443747047230696977209310141692836819025515108657463772111252389784425056953696770785449969967946864454905987931636889230098793127736178215424999229576351482208269895193668033182528869398496465105820939239829488793320362509443117301238197068416140397019837679320683282376464804295311802328782509819455815301756717361332069811250996181881593041690351598888519345807273866738589422879228499892086805825749279610484198444363463244968487560233624827041978623209002160990235304369941849146314093431738143640546253152096183690888707016768396424378140592714563549061303107208510383750510115747704171898610687396965521267154688957035035402123407849819334321068170121005627880235193033224745015853904730419957777093503660416997329725088687696640355570716226844716256079882651787134195124665201030592123667719432527867539855894489697096409754591856956380236370162112047742722836489613422516445078182442352948636372141740238893441247963574370263755294448337998016125492278509257782562092622648326277933386566481627725164019105900491644998289315056604725802778631864155195653244258698294695930801915298721172556347546396447910145904090586298496791287406870504895858671747985466775757320568128845920541334053922000113786300945560688166740016984205580403363795376452030402432256613527836951177883863874439662532249850654995886234281899707733276171783928034946501434558897071942586398772754710962953741521115136835062752602326484728703920764310059584116612054529703023647254929666938115137322753645098889031360205724817658511806303644281231496550704751025446501172721155519486685080036853228183152196003735625279449515828418829478761085263981395599006737648292244375287184624578036192981971399147564488262603903381441823262515097482798777996437308997038886778227138360577297882412561190717663946507063304527954661855096666185664709711344474016070462621568071748187784437143698821855967095910259686200235371858874856965220005031173439207321139080329363447972735595527734907178379342163701205005451326383544000186323991490705479778056697853358048966906295119432473099587655236812859041383241160722602998330535370876138939639177957454016137223618789365260538155841587186925538606164779834025435128439612946035291332594279490433729908573158029095863138268329147711639633709240031689458636060645845925126994655724839186564209752685082307544254599376917041977780085362730941710163434907696423722294352366125572508814779223151974778060569672538017180776360346245927877846585065605078084421152969752189087401966090665180351650179250461950136658543663271254963990854914420001457476081930221206602433009641270489439039717719518069908699860663658323227870937650226014929101151717763594460202324930028040186772391028809786660565118326004368850881715723866984224220102495055188169480322100251542649463981287367765892768816359831247788652014117411091360116499507662907794364600585194199856016264790761532103872755712699251827568798930276176114616254935649590379804583818232336861201624373656984670378585330527583333793990752166069238053369887956513728559388349989470741618155012539706464817194670834819721448889879067650379590366967249499254527903372963616265897603949857674139735944102374432970935547798262961459144293645142861715858733974679189757121195618738578364475844842355558105002561149239151889309946342841393608038309166281881150371528496705974162562823609216807515017772538740256425347087908913729172282861151591568372524163077225440633787593105982676094420326192428531701878177296023541306067213604600038966109364709514141718577701418060644363681546444005331608778314317444081194942297559931401188868331483280270655383300469329011574414756313999722170380461709289457909627166226074071874997535921275608441473782330327033016823719364800217328573493594756433412994302485023573221459784328264142168487872167336701061509424345698440187331281010794512722373788612605816566805371439612788873252737389039289050686532413806279602593038772769778379286840932536588073398845721874602100531148335132385004782716937621800490479559795929059165547050577751430817511269898518840871856402603530558373783242292418562564425502267215598027401261797192804713960068916382866527700975276706977703643926022437284184088325184877047263844037953016690546593746161932384036389313136432713768884102681121989127522305625675625470172508634976536728860596675274086862740791285657699631378975303466061666980421826772456053066077389962421834085988207186468262321508028828635974683965435885668550377313129658797581050121491620765676995065971534476347032085321560367482860837865680307306265763346977429563464371670939719306087696349532884683361303882943104080029687386911706666614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goldyoshiSep 1, 2008
I'm actually digging you up...holy s**t? You didn't even copypasta some random crap you typed.
jj101Sep 1, 2008
They're used in encryption keys. People don't shell out $100k for nothing.
goon5000Sep 1, 2008
exactly, they didn't solve that problem.and a mersenne prime is just as easy to find. "testForPrime(2^x - 1);" instead of "testForPrime(x);"until "testForPrime()" is implemented in less than exponential time, nothing is solved.