New Largest Known Prime 2^136,279,841 - 1 Discovered: 52nd Mersenne Prime, Half a Million Digits More, Using Nvidia Chip

Oct 21, 2024, 03:44 PM

A new record for the largest known prime number has been set with the discovery of 2^136,279,841 - 1, a Mersenne prime. This significant finding was announced on October 21, 2024, and marks the 52nd known Mersenne prime. The discovery was made possible through the GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) software, which took nearly six years to identify this prime, surpassing the previous record by half a million digits. Notably, this prime was found using GPU technology, specifically by a former Nvidia software engineer, highlighting the role of advanced computing in mathematical research. The algorithm that ensured the integrity of the GIMPS leaderboard was originally developed for the Verifiable Delay Functions employed in Chia's consensus algorithm.