[math-fun] new Mersenne prime: P = 24,036,583

The GIMPS project has confirmed the 41st known Mersenne prime, 24,036,583 2 - 1 with roughly 7.2M digits. This becomes the new largest-known-prime, roughly 1M digits larger than the previous record holder. The exponent was discovered two weeks ago, and has been checked since by two independent machines with independent software. We won't know for a year or two if this is the 41st largest MP, since there are lots of not-yet-tested and not-yet-checked exponents less than 24M. The official announcement is at http://www.mersenne.org/24036583.htm Rich Schroeppel rcs@cs.arizona.edu