Mathematicians discover 46th prime number.

Published: Sept. 27, 2008 at 11:35 AM

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Mathematicians at UCLA say they have discovered a 13-million-digit prime number long sought by computer users.

Finding the first verified Mersenne prime number with more than 10 million digits qualifies UCLA for a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an activist group supporting individual rights on the Web, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday, noting the discovery is the 46th known Mersenne prime number.

"We're delighted," said UCLA project team leader Edson Smith. "Now we're looking for the next one."

Prime numbers are divisible only by themselves and one, such as the numbers three, seven and 11. Mersenne primes, named after the 17th century French mathematician Marin Mersenne, take the form 2P -1, where P is also a prime number, the Times reported, adding the new UCLA prime is P = 43,112,609.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints




Additional News Stories
Your Daily Horoscope (2 min)
The almanac (32 min)
Empty Nest: Music-making with Riley! (32 min)
Texas evidence barred from Ariz. trial
Alaska mulls new ethics rules post-Palin
Md. report optimistic about wind power
Modified egg plant held off in India
fark
Stephen Colbert: "Sarah Palin is a f*cking retard"
Photoshop this artificial appendage
Illegal immigration dropped 7 percent last year on news that US sucks almost as much as Mexico these...
Thanks to union contracts, a Madison, Wisconsin bus driver earned $159,258 last year. Step to the...
Woman charged with impersonation. Of Jabba The Hutt, apparently
Georgia man arrested with $1.6 billion in phony Treasury notes. Authorities became suspicious upon...