GIMPS

GIMPS是英文Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search的縮寫，中文的意思是搜尋梅森素數的分散式網路計算。

GIMPS （搜尋梅森素數的分散式網路計算）
2005年12月15日，中密蘇里州立大學的 Curtis Cooper 和 Steven Bonne 發現了第43個梅森素數——230,402,457-1。中密蘇里州立大學隊成為了對 GIMPS 項目貢獻最多的團隊。這個新發現是目前所知的最大素數（英語）。
這個新素數有 9152052 位數。這個新素數在五天內由法國格勒諾布爾的 Tony Reix 獨立驗證。這次核算工作動用了一台帶有16個 Itanium2 1.5GHZ 處理器的 Bull NovaScale 6160 HPC 超級計算機完成。所運用的演算程式是Guillermo Ballester Valor 編寫的 Glacus 程式。
發現素數的 Cooper 博士加入 GIMPS 項目已過7年，他的同事 Vince Edmondson 博士負責在全校範圍內部署推廣 GIMPS 程式，可惜他在2003年逝世了。 Cooper， Boone 和中密蘇里州立大學的發現來之不易，他們協調著超過700台計算機！
當然，Cooper 等人不可能獨立完成這些發現，我們還有著成千上萬的 GIMPS 志願者的參與！這次發現是 GIMPS 項目的第九個最大素數記錄。現在就加入，您也許能成為發現下一個素數的人！
第42個梅森素數被發現
2005年2月18日，德國的Dr.Martin Nowak發現了已知的最大素數，2^25,964,951-1。這個素數共有7,816,230位數！在Nowak的P4-2.4GHz的電腦上計算了超過50天。這個新素數被法國格勒諾布爾的Tony Reix在5天時間獨立檢驗，動用了擁有16個安騰處理器的Bull NovaScale 5000 HPC，檢驗程式是西班牙Guillermo Ballester Valor編寫的Glucas程式。第二次檢驗是由加拿大渥太華的Jeff Gilchrist在15天內完成的，動用了一台擁有12個1.2GHz處理器的Compaq Alpha GS160。
此次發現新素數的Dr.Martin Nowak是眼科醫生，在1999年4月通過讀報得知GIMPS項目。他同時也是數學愛好者，於是他使用他的個人電腦開始運行GHIMPS。6年後，他已經由24台電腦在為GIMPS工作，而且現在，已經有了一個發現素數的成果。
第43個梅森素數被發現
為2^30,402,457-1
On December 15, 2005, Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone, professors at Central Missouri State University, discovered the 43rd Mersenne Prime, 230,402,457-1. The CMSU team is the most prolific contributor to the GIMPS project. The discovery is the largest known prime number.
The new prime is 9,152,052 digits long. This means the Electronic Frontier Foundation $100,000 award for the discovery of the first 10 million digit prime is still up for grabs!
Dr. Cooper joined GIMPS over 7 years ago with colleague Dr. Vince Edmondson. Edmondson was instrumental in the campus-wide effort until he passed away in 2003. Cooper, Boone, and CMSU truly earned this discovery, diligently coordinating over 700 PCs!
For more information on this prime discovery read the full press release.
第44個梅森素數被發現
2006年，2^32,582,657-1被證明為梅森素數
Lightning strikes twice. On September 4, 2006, in the same room just a few feet away from their last find, Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone's CMSU team broke their own world record, discovering the 44th known Mersenne prime, 232,582,657-1. The new prime at 9,808,358 digits is 650,000 digits larger than their previous record prime found last December. However, the new prime falls short of the 10 million digits required for GIMPS to claim the Electronic Frontier Foundation $100,000 award.
With five record primes found in less than 3 years, GIMPS has been on an incredible lucky streak. Never before have Mersenne primes been bunched so closely together. When looking at the exponents, we expect only 1.78 Mersenne primes between powers of two, and prior to 2003, a maximum of 3 Mersenne primes were found between powers of two. The last 5 Mersenne prime exponents all fell between 224 and 225 -- and we haven't finished testing all the exponents in that range!
The new prime was independently verified in 6 days by Tony Reix of Bull S.A. in Grenoble, France using 16 Itanium2 1.5 GHz CPUs of a Bull NovaScale 6160 HPC at Bull Grenoble Research Center, running the Glucas program by Guillermo Ballester Valor of Granada, Spain.
Dr. Cooper and Dr. Boone could not have made this discovery alone. In recognition of contributions made by the project coordinators and the tens of thousands GIMPS volunteers, credit for this new discovery goes to "Cooper, Boone, Woltman, Kurowski, et al". The discovery is the tenth record prime for the GIMPS project. Join now and you could find the next record-breaking prime! You could even win some cash.
Perfectly Scientific, Dr. Crandall's company which developed the FFT algorithm used by GIMPS, will make a poster you can order containing the entire 9.8 million digit number. It is kind of pricey because accurately printing an over-sized poster in 1-point font is not easy! This makes a cool present for the serious math nut in your family.
For more information on this prime discovery read the full press release.