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Experts cheer math geeks' primal scheme

JOSH WINGROVE

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 10:39 AM EST 23/09/08

Historic prime number found by global enthusiasts is digital dream for the math set ...Read the full article

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  1. B.C. Expat from Ottawa-Hull, NCR, Canada writes: I just discovered a word that's 12.9 million letters long. It's in a language of which I'm the last remaining speaker, but it's an exciting discovery nonetheless.
  2. K McIntyre from Oshawa, Canada writes: I have a practical application for this discovery:

    It would take a while, but a devoted math student should inscribe all 12.9 million digits of this number on a restroom wall, and write over top of it, 'For a good prime, call:'
  3. Toronto Reader from Toronto, Canada writes: It would be even more fun for the teacher/professor/one of the members of this "math association" to verify that the number inscribed on the wall is indeed the 12.9 million digits prime number without a mistake.
  4. Fake Name from Canada writes: I'm sure the cryptography field will be very interested in this, in about a hundred years, when computers get powerful enough to need this size of prime number for encryption algorithms.
  5. K McIntyre from Oshawa, Canada writes: Mersenne Primes aren't relevent to cryptography. And in any case, using the Moore's Law heuristic for estimating future computing power, it would take about 86 million years for cryptography to need 12.9 million digit numbers to stay secure.
  6. Jah Nee Kah Sun from Canada writes: I don't get it
  7. matthew veenman from Winnipeg, Canada writes: Best news this week.
  8. Iain's Opinion from Canada writes: I hope that this doesn't in any way affect the sub-prime numbers.
  9. Shadow of the Bear from Canada writes: Any end in sight for the number Pi ?

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