Comments on: It was just a matter of time...

It was just a matter of time...

DailyBread — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 23:54:02 -0800

26 year old student finds largest known prime number. The number is 6,320,430 digits long and would need 1,400 to 1,500 pages to write out. It is more than 2 million digits larger than the previous largest known prime number. Why? What use is it? How can knowing the next highest prime number be of any benefit?

One word: Cryptography.
Prime numbers are essential in producing keys for cryptography.

By: fvw

fvw — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:00:02 -0800

While large primes are indeed used in crypto, those aren't quit this big. This discovery mainly has curiosity value (not that there's anything wrong with that).

By: banished

banished — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:04:02 -0800

yeah what fvw said... it's all about bragging rights and is rather worthless. not to mention this is old news, but hey... whatever

By: Homeskillet Freshy Fresh

Homeskillet Freshy Fresh — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:05:44 -0800

Double post. The earlier one has links to goatse in the comments, so I vote to keep this one.

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:41:04 -0800

Anyways, if everyone used the largest prime for their encryption needs, then it would be pretty shitty encryption. The NSA, CIA, and various telephone companies employ whole teams of people to come up with 'secret primes,' under lock and key, available only to those that know about them.

By: Dreamghost

Dreamghost — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 01:05:40 -0800

"it's all about bragging rights and is rather worthless." Hey Pal My Prime Number Is Bigger Then Yours... OHHH YEAHHHH BABY, WHOOOOOOOOOOO Yep I Love That Sweet Poontang Pi ;) (If Math Geeks Acted Like Circa 1980's Films Frat Boys)

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 01:26:26 -0800

(If Math Geeks Acted Like Circa 1980's Films Frat Boys) favorite math pickup lines: "wanna get drunk and multiply?" "i'd love to see the sum of your parts."

By: nthdegx

nthdegx — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 04:44:39 -0800

Metafilter: Like being back at school.

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 05:15:24 -0800

So he must have sat and watched that bear forever.. wow.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 06:00:02 -0800

hehehe. great link Space Coyote.

By: RubberHen

RubberHen — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 06:29:19 -0800

Is TubGirl the Japanese Metamucil ad? Has Mr Shafer been contacted by the SETI people? SUN

By: fenriq

fenriq — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:11:10 -0800

This is the same kid that has a hobby of searching for palindromic prime numbers. I think the guy's gotta get a girlfriend and get laid. Now, if he created a program to figure out celebrity's home phone numbers, THAT would be worthwhile!

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 15:10:48 -0800

Hey, now. Some of have girlfriends, get laid, and still do inexplicably dorky stuff like that. /needless defensiveness

By: mikhail

mikhail — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 18:37:49 -0800

The earlier one has links to goatse in the comments, so I vote to keep this one. Well here's the goatse link again (courtesy homunculus' post). Can we delete this post now?

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 22:49:07 -0800

I let the bear shit for 16 hours and got about 44,000 prime numbers. Here are my stats: Prime now:5309071 Prime count:43,908 Prime density:8.3% Uptime: 16:12 Extra credit: calculate how long the bear would have to shit to get to the largest known prime number.