Man spent $2M to find new largest prime number
A new largest known prime number, M136279841, has been discovered with 41,024,320 digits by Luke Durant using a $2 million GPU-based supercomputer, marking a significant advancement in prime number research.
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A new largest known prime number has been discovered, surpassing the previous record by over 16 million digits. The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) confirmed the 52nd Mersenne prime number, designated as M136279841, which consists of 41,024,320 digits. This number is derived from the formula 2^136279841 - 1. The discovery was made by Luke Durant, a former NVIDIA employee, using a supercomputer cloud network he built, which cost approximately $2 million. This marks a significant advancement as it is the first Mersenne prime found using graphics processing units (GPUs) rather than traditional central processing units (CPUs). The GIMPS project, which began in 1999, utilizes volunteers who run specialized software to search for large prime numbers. While such large primes have limited practical applications, they may be useful in cryptographic algorithms. The discovery highlights the potential of GPU technology beyond artificial intelligence applications, showcasing human creativity and curiosity in mathematics.
- The new largest prime number has 41,024,320 digits.
- The discovery was made by Luke Durant using a GPU-based supercomputer network.
- The project cost Durant around $2 million.
- This is the first Mersenne prime found using GPUs instead of CPUs.
- Mersenne primes have limited practical applications but may aid in cryptography.
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- Many commenters question the practical value of discovering such a large prime number, suggesting it serves no real purpose for society.
- Some express admiration for Luke Durant's investment of time and money, comparing it to other pursuits of personal achievement.
- There is discussion about the resources used for the discovery, including the use of cloud storage and the financial implications of such a project.
- Several comments highlight the irony of spending $2 million on a project that some view as ultimately pointless.
- Links to related articles and interviews about the discovery are shared, indicating ongoing interest in the topic.
15 comments> Durant, who made his money off the boom, said he put his time and money into the project to show people that they aren’t helpless to technology giants and that we can figure out massive problems if we work together.
If I sold absolutely everything I owned, I would not even have close to half of what it Durant invested in his pet project. While I like his intended sentiment, I can't help but notice the irony.
I can appreciate the sentiment but
> The discovery was the result of almost exactly one year of work and about $2 million of Durant’s own money.
doesn't really show me much especially since
> The prime number Durant discovered serves no real purpose for society.
This sort of shows the opposite: if it takes $2M to discover something that doesn't have a real purpose, yeah I definitely feel a bit helpless against tech giants trying to do anything that is marginally useful.
9 years ago I asked how much a Mersenne prime is worth to us. I guess we have an answer now.
> I was able to find this number that’s astonishingly large … but I was able to do it just by using big tech’s leftovers.
Did he do this by taking advantage of spot pricing? It isn't actually mentioned how he uses those leftovers in the article.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt5AfwLFPxWIWS5Jd3k5QHdc0...
GIMPS Discovers Largest Known Prime Number: 2^136279841 – 1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41904237 - Oct 2024 (11 comments)
New Mersenne Prime discovered (probably) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41858024 - Oct 2024 (120 comments)
Hitchhiker's Guide's Deep Thought "42" was 7.5 million years, just for a guide-post.
Not sure how to react to this.
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