[ExI] 2^57885161-1

Dave Sill sparge at gmail.com
Fri Feb 8 16:03:19 UTC 2013


On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 10:39 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> So I ask my computer-superiors present, which is
> almost everyone here, why not rig up some kind of GIMPS-like process, send
> it out to every desktop computer in the company, find out which computers
> are failing to get it done and why.  We might find a new Mersenne prime,
> which is good PR for the company.

One problem is that busy CPUs consume more power than ones, so the
unused cycles aren't free. Another problem is that most CPU chips have
multiple cores, so keeping only one of them busy won't tell whether
there's a virus running on another one. So you have to keep all of the
cores busy. Combine the first problem with the second problem and you
a third potential problem: overheating.

But your proposed practical application of large primes doesn't answer
the question about their mathematical importance.

-Dave



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