We're rolling out the welcome mat to celebrate the newest prime number, which was discovered last week! What is a prime number, you ask? It's a whole number that has exactly two distinct factors, namely 1 and itself! As an example, 7, is a prime number—it has two factors, 1 and 7. On the other hand, 1 is not a prime number—it has two factors, 1 and 1... but they're not distinct.
There are an infinite number of primes, so it's not surprising that the newest prime is quite large:
274,207,281 − 1
That being said, it also comes as no surprise that this prime was discovered by a computer! Per The New York Times, "In a computer laboratory at a satellite campus of the University of Central Missouri, an otherwise nondescript desktop computer, machine No. 5 in Room 143, multiplied 74,207,281 twos together and subtracted 1. It then checked that this number was not divisible by any positive integer except 1 and itself — the definition of a prime number." Furthermore, "As integers get bigger, prime numbers become rarer, but there is always a bigger prime number to be found."
Here are some fun facts about the newest prime and prime numbers in general:
• The newest prime is a Mersenne prime, which means it is expressed in the form 2n - 1.
• It was discovered by the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, a group of volunteers dedicated to searching for Mersenne primes!
• ... it also has 22,338,618 digits.
• 2 is the only even prime number!
• To determine if a number is prime, it is sufficient to show that no prime number less than or equal the square root of the number is a factor of the number.
Now, people love memorizing the digits of pi... but how about the primes? Here's a list of the first 300 prime numbers—just for fun, how many can you memorize?
2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29
31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71
73 79 83 89 97 101 103 107 109 113
127 131 137 139 149 151 157 163 167 173
179 181 191 193 197 199 211 223 227 229
233 239 241 251 257 263 269 271 277 281
283 293 307 311 313 317 331 337 347 349
353 359 367 373 379 383 389 397 401 409
419 421 431 433 439 443 449 457 461 463
467 479 487 491 499 503 509 521 523 541
547 557 563 569 571 577 587 593 599 601
607 613 617 619 631 641 643 647 653 659
661 673 677 683 691 701 709 719 727 733
739 743 751 757 761 769 773 787 797 809
811 821 823 827 829 839 853 857 859 863
877 881 883 887 907 911 919 929 937 941
947 953 967 971 977 983 991 997 1009 1013
1019 1021 1031 1033 1039 1049 1051 1061 1063 1069
1087 1091 1093 1097 1103 1109 1117 1123 1129 1151
1153 1163 1171 1181 1187 1193 1201 1213 1217 1223
1229 1231 1237 1249 1259 1277 1279 1283 1289 1291
1297 1301 1303 1307 1319 1321 1327 1361 1367 1373
1381 1399 1409 1423 1427 1429 1433 1439 1447 1451
1453 1459 1471 1481 1483 1487 1489 1493 1499 1511
1523 1531 1543 1549 1553 1559 1567 1571 1579 1583
1597 1601 1607 1609 1613 1619 1621 1627 1637 1657
1663 1667 1669 1693 1697 1699 1709 1721 1723 1733
1741 1747 1753 1759 1777 1783 1787 1789 1801 1811
1823 1831 1847 1861 1867 1871 1873 1877 1879 1889
1901 1907 1913 1931 1933 1949 1951 1973 1979 1987
