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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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UCLA Bags $100K Prize With Record-Breaking Prime Number

Winning discovery is 13 million digits long

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(Newser) – A team of UCLA mathematicians has won one of  the math world's most coveted prizes, the Los Angeles Times reports. Their discovery of a 13-million-digit prime number—only the 46th such number ever found—scores them a $100,000 reward from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The organization is also offering $150,000 to anybody who can find a prime number with more than 100 million digits.

The search for Mersenne prime numbers seeks to harness the world's underutilized computing capacity.
The search for Mersenne prime numbers seeks to harness the world's underutilized computing capacity.   ((c) Inti)
The 13-million-digit prime number discovered by UCLA researchers would stretch for 30 miles if it was written down.
The 13-million-digit prime number discovered by UCLA researchers would stretch for 30 miles if it was written down.   ((c) heliosphan)
Only 46 Mersenne prime numbers have ever been found.
Only 46 Mersenne prime numbers have ever been found.   (KRT Photos)
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EFF contest page
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UCLA • Electronic Frontier Foundation • algorithms • mathematicians

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