352: amazing mathematic discovery

Fascinating news today from the BBC. Apparently, a team of mathematicians in California has discovered the world's largest prime number - a number that can only be divided by itself and the number one. The newly identified number has 13 million digits! Yes, you read it right... Needless to say, it wasn't discovered with a pencil and a piece of paper. The team linked 75 computers across the world via the internet and used their combined power. As a result, the mathematicians look set to gain financially too, having picked up a prize for 'co-operative computing' through their work (the prize amount doesn't have 13 million digits though...). We all win in the end, of course, as human knowledge advances in this way.

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So, here I am with two weeks left of my original experiment. I almost can't believe I've got this far myself! Over the next couple of weeks, I have to decide how best to continue this blog, but I'm also going to be making some changes to its layout and content. So look out for those! Hope you like them. As always, send me your thoughts at eazibee@gmail.com