From: "Schroeppel, Richard" <rschroe@sandia.gov>
Tony Reix reported this morning on the NMBRTHRY list that the Mersenne prime 2 ^ 25964951 - 1 is confirmed. A triple check is expected to finsh tomorrow.
George Woltman has requested that the exponent be kept off "the web" until his press release is posted, and the discoverer's local newspaper has a chance to report it.
This is probably M42. It is the largest known Mersenne prime. The next smaller MP exponent known is 24036583, giving modest support to the cluster theory.
With the caveat that there is no cogent cluster theory. There's no reason to believe there should be, and there's no evidence that distinguishes the sequence of Mersenne primes from one consisting of entirely independent events to any significance. Unless by "modest support" you mean the same level of support that seeing a non-black non-raven gives to the all-ravens-are-black theory. Phil ===== When inserting a CD, hold down shift to stop the AutoRun feature In the Device Manager, disable the SbcpHid device. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jhalderm/cd3/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail