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New Mersenne Prime discovered (probably)

(www.mersenne.org)
359 points sdsykes | 1 comments | 16 Oct 24 11:51 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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dooglius ◴[18 Oct 24 23:59 UTC] No.41884540[source]▶
Why don't they say what it is?
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lifthrasiir ◴[19 Oct 24 00:15 UTC] No.41884602[source]▶
Because the EFF Cooperative Computing Awards for the first discovery of large enough prime numbers are still active. Publishing the probable prime in advance would risk someone verifying faster than GIMPS.
replies(3): >>41884609 #>>41884773 #>>41886873 #
gus_massa ◴[19 Oct 24 10:06 UTC] No.41886873[source]▶
How do you prove that you verified that a number is a prime?

If you want to prove that a number is not a prime you can show the factorization or that it breack the little theorem of Fermat with 367984321568, and everyone can check the refutation inmediately.

I don't know a similar method to show that you actualy verified the number is a prime.

replies(1): >>41888898 #
1. ColinWright ◴[19 Oct 24 16:51 UTC] No.41888898[source]▶
There are primality proving certificates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primality_certificate

These are sometimes infeasible for stupidly big numbers, but the Mersenne Primes have a specific structure that allows for simplification of the process.