Largest Known Mersenne Prime 2^82,589,933 - 1 Discovered by GIMPS, Surpassing Previous Record by Half a Million Digits

Oct 21, 2024, 01:18 PM

A significant advancement in prime number discovery has been reported with the announcement of the largest known prime number, 2^82,589,933 - 1. This Mersenne prime, identified by the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) project, surpasses the previous record by half a million digits. The discovery marks a milestone as it is the first Mersenne prime found using GPU technology, and it took nearly six years to locate. Additionally, researchers have made progress in understanding the structure of prime numbers, providing new tools to tackle the Riemann hypothesis, a major unsolved problem in mathematics. One example highlighted is the number 586,034,187,508,450, which has a prime factor of 67,749,617,053.