Prime numbers are whole numbers greater than 1 that are not divisible by any whole number other than 1 and itself. The first few are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 … To explain how the RSA algorithm works ...

The online computer game “Is this prime?” tests a player’s knowledge of prime numbers—and just surpassed 2,999,999 attempts. Give it a whirl.

Fortunately, Édouard Lucas developed a prime number test in 1878, later proved by Derrick Henry Lehmer in 1930. Their work resulted in an efficient algorithm for evaluating potential Mersenne ...

How Do You Discover a 17 Million Digit Prime Number? The 48th Mersenne prime was recently discovered on the computer of a man named Dr. Curtis Cooper, and it’s 17 million digits long ...

Prime Number Notes: This article presents well drafted notes on Prime Numbers which will help students clear their concepts of this prominent part of number theory. Download notes in PDF.

An amateur mathematician from San Jose, US, has discovered the largest prime number yet with over 41 million digits. Prime numbers, the building blocks of mathematics, are divisible only by ...

This algorithm can tell which number sequences a human will find interesting The result hints that machines could one day be trained to spot mathematical elegance and beauty.

The result is shorter run times for algorithms such as prime number testing. New and increasingly powerful computer chips have allowed prime-number hunters to find increasingly larger primes.