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Largest prime number
Author: tim
What is the largest prime number?
Response #: 1 of 2
Author: tee
There is no largest prime number (Euclid, et. al.). Recently, (it seems
this statement will always be proper as computers keep getting faster)
another Mersenne prime has been discovered. A look-up of this will connect
you to perfect numbers. Many references exist.
Response #: 2 of 2
Author: rcwinther
I heard about the new largest-known prime on the news, but I have not seen
anything about it in print, so I do not know how big it is. The previous
record was the prime number 2^756839 - 1, a number of 227,832 digits. Our
printer does about 5000 characters per page, so this works out to about 45
1/2 pages. The new record-holder is likely to be significantly bigger. A
questioner on the Computer Science BB says that the new record-holder is the
number 2^859433 - 1. This number would have 258,716 digits, requiring about
52 pages.
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