The 39th Mersenne prime

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The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) has discovered the largest known prime number, 282,589,933-1, having 24,862,048 digits. A computer volunteered by Patrick Laroche from Ocala, Florida made the find on December 7, 2018. The new prime number, also known as M82589933, is calculated by multiplying together 82,589,933 twos and then subtracting one. It is more than one and a half million digits larger than the previous record prime number.

GIMPS has been on amazing lucky streak finding triple the expected number of new Mersenne primes -- a dozen in the last fifteen years. This prime was even luckier for Patrick Laroche, striking pay dirt on just his fourth try. For years, Patrick had used GIMPS software as a free ""stress test"" for his computer builds. Less than four months ago he started prime hunting on his media server to give back to the project. By way of comparison, some GIMPS participants have searched for more than 20 years with tens of thousands of attempts but no success. This proves that, with luck, anyone can find the next new Mersenne prime.