Mersenne Digest         Thursday, July 1 1999         Volume 01 : Number 591




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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 23:21:20 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Mersenne FAQ 1.1

On Tue, Jun 29, 1999 at 04:16:19AM -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
>I corrected a few typos.  I then added 500 more of them when I added the LL
>section.  The LL section needs major revision, and clarification, especially
>the repeating LL part.

But it still is nice!! Good work. Let us never ever see the `repeating LL
remainder' question again.

/* Steinar */
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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 18:06:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lucas Wiman  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Re: 10,000,000 digit prime

>> The 10,000,000 digit prime would have an exponent of over
>> 3010299.956, or 3010300
>> which is found by taking (log 2 * 10,000,000)

> Actually, it's log10(2) * 10,000,000, which is a different number. Of
> course, since I'm not at home, I can't figure out _that_ number offhand,
> but see the posts from some weeks back to get the exact first exponent.

The formula for determining the number of digits in Mp is p*log_10(2).
Therefore, to find the first one with 10^7 digits, we find ceil(10^7/log_10(2))
which is 33219281.

Yes, this is going in the FAQ...

- -Lucas Wiman
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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 19:17:19 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Mersenne: Hey! 

<<I'm keeping my fingers, toes and hairs crossed :-) Just too bad nobody
else has participated in my guess-contest... That means I will be the
sole winner! Hooray!>>
Then, later:
<<Hmmm, my guess was at about 6,2 million, but nobody else guessed,
so there :-)>>

Sorry, but I _also_ submitted a guess for M38. Maybe you didn't see it. I, 
for the record, guessed that M38 has an exponent in the neighborhood of 6.9 
million. You may verify this by checking the Mersenne mailing list archives 
(which is why I made it a point to post my guess to the list :-D  ). I also 
had two other guesses in that post, namely that we're missing a Mersenne 
prime in the 4mil range (highly unlikely, actually, or so it seems) and a 
guess at the size of the decamillion digit Mersenne Prime.

<<It hasn't been announced yet... but from what little information 
that is available, i.e. The Oregonian newspaper article, the
exponent must be =at least= 6,643,859.>>

Ah, my guess of 6.9 million is still safe. :-D
Time will tell.

S.T.L.
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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 19:27:19 -0400
From: Jud McCranie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: PrimeNet Stats Updated

At 11:17 PM 6/29/99 +0200, Steinar H. Gunderson wrote:

>Then what is the best fit? Exponential? :-) 

It is slightly parabolic.  The good news is that it is trending upward faster
than linearly.
+----------------------------------------------+
| Jud "program first and think later" McCranie |
+----------------------------------------------+


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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 23:46:17 +0000
From: "David L. Nicol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Mersenne 3/2 conjecture

Aaron Blosser wrote:

~> expressions just look much cooler if you throw in a pi

Hmm...


   pi     pi     pi          pi     pi       pi   
( ---- + ---- + ---- ) ** ( ---- + ---- ) + ----
  pi     pi     pi          pi     pi       pi


_______________________________________________________________________
  David Nicol 816.235.1187 UMKC Network Operations [EMAIL PROTECTED]
     "on a 80x24 character cell terminal in a damp basement, under
       a bare light bulb, perched atop a backless wooden stool."
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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 17:26:08 -0700
From: Rudy Ruiz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: Re: Mersenne Digest V1 #590

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Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 19:45:11 -0700
From: Eric Hahn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Mersenne: A few questions

>How large will the exponent be for a 10,000,000 digit prime number?

To be a 10,000,000 digit prime number the exponent must be at least
33,219,281 (which also happens to be a Mersenne candidate).

>Has the prime number that was found a week ago been announced on
this
>list?
>I.E.  What number was it?

It hasn't been announced yet... but from what little information
that is available, i.e. The Oregonian newspaper article, the
exponent must be =at least= 6,643,859.

Eric


Eric: Isn't 7 million bits something very near to 2^7,000,00  ?

I think that could be the case. So could we say: exponent at least 6,900,000?

Rudy

>From the "The Oregonian" article:

The new number is 7 million bits of information -- or more than
twice as long.



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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 19:45:11 -0700
<br>From: Eric Hahn &lt;[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<br>Subject: RE: Mersenne: A few questions
<p>>How large will the exponent be for a 10,000,000 digit prime number?
<p>To be a 10,000,000 digit prime number the exponent must be at least
<br>33,219,281 (which also happens to be a Mersenne candidate).
<p>>Has the prime number that was found a week ago been announced on
<br>this
<br>>list?
<br>>I.E.&nbsp; What number was it?
<p>It hasn't been announced yet... but from what little information
<br>that is available, i.e. The Oregonian newspaper article, the
<br>exponent must be =at least= 6,643,859.
<p>Eric
<br>&nbsp;
<p>Eric: Isn't 7 million bits something very near to 2^7,000,00&nbsp; ?
<p>I think that could be the case. So could we say: exponent at least 6,900,000?
<p>Rudy
<p>From the "<i>The Oregonian"</i> article:
<p><i>The new number is 7 million bits of information -- or more than</i>
<br><i>twice as long.</i>
<br><i></i>&nbsp;
<br><i></i>&nbsp;</html>

- --------------88161F17489D3CEBF849D8CE--

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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 19:54:58 -0700
From: Eric Hahn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: Re: Mersenne Digest V1 #590

>>>Has the prime number that was found a week ago been announced on 

>>>this list? 

>>>I.E.  What number was it? 


>>It hasn't been announced yet... but from what little information 

>>that is available, i.e. The Oregonian newspaper article, the 

>>exponent must be =at least= 6,643,859. 


>>Eric 

  

>Eric: Isn't 7 million bits something very near to 2^7,000,00  ? 


>I think that could be the case. So could we say: exponent at least
>6,900,000? 


>Rudy 


>From the "<italic>The Oregonian"</italic> article: 


<italic>>The new number is 7 million bits of information -- or more
than</italic> 

<italic>>twice as long.</italic> 



Good point.  But 7,000,000 bits =is= 2^7,000,000 - 1 (which is

obviously a composite number)


I was looking at the following portion of the article...


    'Confirmed this week by George Woltman, a Florida engineer and 

     founder of the "Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search," the new 

     prime possesses more than 2 million digits -- more than twice as

     many as the previously largest-known prime, which was discovered

     last year by a 19-year-old college student.'


<<pardon the sarcasm!>

Whatever the case, certain individuals who have decided to "poach"

exponents to ensure M(36) and M(37) are actually M(36) and M(37)

respectively, are going to have to wait a loooong time to verify

whether this new find is actually M(38) or really M(39), etc.

instead.  Guess they better get out those Pentium XV 1000GHz 

processors we heard about earlier.  They'll need them to process

the well over 35,000 LL tests (including double-checks) to

accomplish this task!!!  

<<ending sarcasm mode>



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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 22:32:08 -0500
From: Ken Kriesel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: M38 guess

Make my guess for M38, p~=6,740,000


Ken
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 00:44:12 -0500
From: Ken Kriesel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: Re: digits vs exponents FAQ

At 09:09 AM 1999/06/29 -0400, Jud McCranie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>At 04:16 AM 6/29/99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
>>All,
>>Here is version 1.1 of the FAQ.
>
>Here's a question that needs to be addressed: how to go from digits to
>exponents, and exponent to digits.

By all means include it in the faq; there's been too much repetition,
including wrong responses, now and in past months.  Here's a draft:

Sometimes it is useful to know the relationship between the exponent
of a mersenne number and the number of digits it has in some number base.
How do we calculate in either direction?

(q) How many digits are there in the binary representation of 2^n-1 (or any 
number 2^(n-1) <= x <= 2^n - 1) ?
(a) n
Examples: 
n=1, 2^(1-1)=2^0=1=   1(2); 2^1-1= 1  =    1(2).
n=2, 2^(2-1)=2^1=2=  10(2); 2^2-1= 3  =   11(2). 
n=3, 2^(3-1)=2^2=4= 100(2); 2^3-1= 7  =  111(2).
n=4, 2^(4-1)=2^3=8=1000(2); 2^4-1= 15 = 1111(2).
Hey, a pattern's emerging here.

(q) How many digits are there in the hexadecimal representation of 2^n-1?
(a1) int((n+3)/4)
(a2) take the number of binary digits, divide by 4, then round up.

(q) How many digits are there in the decimal representation of 2^n-1 ?
(a) D = int(n * log_10_(2) + 1); 
log_10_(2) ~=  0.301029995664 = log (base 10) of 2

Examples:
n=1, int(1* .3010... + 1) = 1;
n=2, int(2* .3010... + 1) = 1;
n=3, int(3* .3010... + 1) = 1;
n=4, int(4* .3010... + 1) = 2;
...
n=10, 2^n-1=1023; int(10*.3010...+1) ~=  int(4.01029995664) = 4;
n= 3321925, int(3321925* .3010...+1) ~= int(1000000.068346) = 10^6
n= 33219281, int(33219278* .3010...+1)~= int(10000000.1123) = 10^7
n= 332192807,int(332192807*.3010...+1)~=int( 100000000.2508)= 10^8
n= 3321928095,int(3321928092*.3010..+1)~=int(1000000000.131)= 10^9

(q) What about in some arbitrary number base?
(a) For base a as in arbitrary, 2^n -1 will have r digits where
r=int(n*log_a_(2) + 1-epsilon), or rather r=ceil(n*log_a_(2))
(allowing for the base a to possibly be a prime number),
Example: a=7, n=3, log_2_(7)~= 2.807354922058; log_7_(2)~= 0.356207187108
2^3-1= 7 = 10(base 7)

Derivation:
2^n-1  <= a^r-1 or it won't fit in r digits in base a
2^n  <= a^r
n * log_a_(2) <= r

(q) What is the minimum exponent n for 2^n - 1 to have at least D decimal 
digits?
(a) 2^n-1 >         10^(D-1) -1
      2^n >         10^(D-1) 
        n > log_2_( 10^(D-1) )
        n > log_2_(10) * (D-1); log_2_(10) ~=   3.321928094887
 Examples:
D=1, n> log_2_(1); n> 0
D=2, n> log_2_(10); n> 3.321...;    2^4-1=15; 2^3-1-7
D=3, n> log_2_(100); n> 6.642...;   2^7-1=127; 2^6-1=63
D=10, n> log_2_(10)*9; n> 29.897... 2^30=1,073,741,824
D=100, n> log_2_(10)*99; n>328.87.. 2^329= 1.093625362392e+99
D=1000, n>3318.6
D=10000, n>33215.95
D=100,000, n>332189.48
D=1,000,000, n> 3321924.772959
D=10,000,000, n> 33219277.62694
D=100,000,000, n> 332192806.1668
D=1,000,000,000, n> 3321928091.565


Ken
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 07:26:55 +0100
From: "Brian J. Beesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: LL & Factoring DE Crediting

On 29 Jun 99, at 23:13, Steinar H. Gunderson wrote:

(in reply to my message)
> >I agree. However, to take the point to a ridiculous extreme, finding 
> >a factor saves running a LL test - so why can't I have credit for 
> >finding 54,522 (small) factors in the range 33.2 million to 36 
> >million, thus saving (very approximately) 54,522 * 8 P90 CPU years LL 
> >testing? The job ran in an hour on a PII-350!
> 
> I'm sure that if you asked Scott, he would credit that to you as factoring
> work.

Nah, it would be manually submitted results, therefore not eligible. 
Who cares, anyway?
> 
> However, while a factor `saves' an LL test, this is expected behaviour,
> and not something extraordinary. If every factor was going to be credited
> as a full LL test, most people would do factoring only! I belive PrimeNet's
> solution on this is close to optimal.
> 
Precisely my point.

> >(a) you should lose _double_ credit for a LL test if the result is 
> >proved incorrect, or if a factor is found in a range which you claim 
> >to have checked;
> 
> Why? I'd rather stick with the PrimeNet policies, where you never lose
> any credit at all.

To discourage people from generating 20% extra results, mostly bad, 
by overclocking their systems to a dangerous level instead of being 
"conservative" & generating reliable results. This would also make it 
counterproductive to submit "faked" results, therefore allowing 
credit to be given for results submitted manually.

I accept that we all have personal views on this; Scott & George 
produce different but broadly consistent data, so perhaps it doesn't 
matter too much. In any case, it's not sensible to "change the rules 
during the game", unless there's an overwhelming reason for doing so.

Regards
Brian Beesley
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 07:26:55 +0100
From: "Brian J. Beesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Re: 10,000,000 digit prime

On 29 Jun 99, at 18:06, Lucas Wiman wrote:

> Therefore, to find the first one with 10^7 digits, we find ceil(10^7/log_10(2))
> which is 33219281.

NO! The _correct_ formula is ceil((10^7-1)/log_10(2)) = 33219278.

The point is that 2^n have 1 decimal digit for n < 4 ;-)

As it happens, 33219278, 33219279 & 33219280 are all composite and 
therefore are not contenders for generating a Mersenne prime. 
33219281 _is_ prime, the status of 2^33219281 is (so far as I know) 
not known at this time ... unless someone found a factor bigger than 
my 2^40 search limit.

Regards
Brian Beesley
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 03:05:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lucas Wiman  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: distribution of factors (was 10,000,000 digit prime)

> NO! The _correct_ formula is ceil((10^7-1)/log_10(2)) = 33219278.
Aww, mine was pretty close ;-)

> The point is that 2^n have 1 decimal digit for n < 4 ;-)

> As it happens, 33219278, 33219279 & 33219280 are all composite and
> therefore are not contenders for generating a Mersenne prime.
> 33219281 _is_ prime, the status of 2^33219281 is (so far as I know)
> not known at this time ... unless someone found a factor bigger than
> my 2^40 search limit.
Well, I don't think that 2^33219281 is prime (factors 1, and 2) :-).
But 2^33219281-1 has no factor less than 2^52.  
No I am not searching in this range, but I made a made this a special case.
I am currently searching between 2^47, and 2^50.  Which should take
almost two more months (unless I find a load of factors, that should make
things go faster :)   
In that range, I an finding about 5.5% to have factors.  If this holds,
that would be about 3970 new factors, added on to all the other factors
that I've found, that makes 19868 factors, less than half of those less than 
2^40, despite the fact that the range I tested is 1023 times larger.  

I realize this is probably a FAQ, (and I intend to put it there), why is 
the distribution of factors so non-linear?

- -Lucas Wiman
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 11:28:00 +0200
From: Alex Kruppa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Re: 10,000,000 digit prime

> 33219281 _is_ prime, the status of 2^33219281 is (so far as I know)
> not known at this time ... unless someone found a factor bigger than
> my 2^40 search limit.

I tried up to 46695341939693537 ~= 2^55, but no factor.

Ciao,
  Alex.


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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 07:43:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: "St. Dee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38 guess

On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Ken Kriesel wrote:

> Make my guess for M38, p~=6,740,000

I'll guess p~=6,740,001  :-)

Kel

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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:05:07 +0200
From: "Lars Lindley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: SV: Mersenne: M38 guess

> On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Ken Kriesel wrote:
>
> > Make my guess for M38, p~=6,740,000
>
> I'll guess p~=6,740,001  :-)
>
> Kel

I would like anyone betting on M38 tu use an exact exponent!
Not ~= blahblah
If u dont know any exact exponents, then check
http://www.entropia.com/primenet/cleared.txt
and pick one there that could be close...
You wont be able to see the exact exponent of M38 of obvious reasons,
but it can give you an idea...

Regards,
/Lars

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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 09:10:01 -0400
From: Jud McCranie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: distribution of factors (was 10,000,000 digit prime)

At 03:05 AM 6/30/99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:

>I realize this is probably a FAQ, (and I intend to put it there), why is 
>the distribution of factors so non-linear?

Because small factors are more likely to divide a given number.
+----------------------------------------------+
| Jud "program first and think later" McCranie |
+----------------------------------------------+


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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:01:07 -0500
From: "Willmore, David" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Mersenne: M38 guess

> > > Make my guess for M38, p~=6,740,000
> >
> > I'll guess p~=6,740,001  :-)
> >
> > Kel
> 
> I would like anyone betting on M38 tu use an exact exponent!
> Not ~= blahblah
> If u dont know any exact exponents, then check
> http://www.entropia.com/primenet/cleared.txt
> and pick one there that could be close...
> You wont be able to see the exact exponent of M38 of obvious reasons,
> but it can give you an idea...
> 
Or, at least pick a prime exponent! :)  Come on, Ken, 6,740,000 is *even*.
:)

Cheers,
David
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 19:45:11 +0100
From: "Brian J. Beesley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Re: digits vs exponents FAQ

On 30 Jun 99, at 0:44, Ken Kriesel wrote:

> >Here's a question that needs to be addressed: how to go from digits to
> >exponents, and exponent to digits.
> 
> By all means include it in the faq; there's been too much repetition,
> including wrong responses, now and in past months.

Actually, things are a great deal easier than Ken makes out.

Notation used, square brackets means the "integer part of". I don't 
like the notation "int(x)" since this has different interpretations 
in different languages - does it mean chop to zero, chop down or 
round to nearest or even? "ceil(x)" and "floor(x)" are precise, but 
meaningless to C non-programmers.

Let k be the logarithm of r to base 2. Note that 2^p has [p/k] + 1 
digits when represented in base r. k can be calculated as 
log(r)/log(2) using logarithms to any arbitary base.

(a) If k is not a integer (i.e. r is not an integer power of 2), 
2^p-1 has the same number of digits as 2^p, because there can be no 
integers a, b such that a^b = 2^p unless a is an integer power of 2.

(b) If k is an integer (i.e. r is an integral power of 2), subtract 1 
from the number of digits in 2^p, provided that k divides p.

The reverse algorithm (getting the smallest exponent with n digits) 
is actually even easier:

p = [(n-1)*k] + 1 is the smallest p such that 2^p-1 has n digits when 
represented in base r. (This works only for n > 1 because
2^0-1 = 0 still has 1 digit).

Note, the above is actually true irrespective of the numerical value  
of the symbol "2" - i.e. replace "2" by "3" in the arguments above, 
and they still work!

Regards
Brian Beesley
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 22:29:32 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38 guess

On Wed, Jun 30, 1999 at 07:43:33AM -0400, St. Dee wrote:
>I'll guess p~=6,740,001  :-)

I'd recommend using a prime, but that's your problem, of course. Well,
nobody has gone _over_ your guess, so it probably doesn't matter. (In
all other case, choosing the highest non-checked prime above 6,740,000
would have been better.)

/* Steinar */
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 18:21:58 -0400
From: George Woltman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: Re: M#38 and a few questions

Hi all,

At 04:02 PM 6/27/99 -0400, Jeff Woods wrote:
>Because of 
>the EFF award money rules, we "GIMPS at large" will not be permitted to 
>know what the exponent was, or who discovered it, until an article has been 
>published in a peer-review academic research magazine or such.

The EFF rules have been clarified such that if two claims are made on
the $50,000 award, then the discovery date determines the winner.
This gives us plenty of protection in announcing the new prime now.
 
Scott gave out the press release today to the San Jose Mercury News
and I should be emailing the list and updating my web pages soon.
Note that sometimes these "human interest" type stories are held
until the weekend for publication.

I'd like to thank everyone for their patience while any kinks were
worked out in the EFF claims process.  They have never said we couldn't
announce the new prime, but I've held off until we were sure it was
risk-free to do so.

>>Slowinski used to test huge numbers of primes...is he still doing that?

David Slowinski is no longer working for Cray, so I doubt that he is
still orchestrating an organized search.  GIMPS does have one member
who uses Slowinski and Gage's program and a Cray to look for primes.
The latest prime is being verified by him.  Paul Gage, who still does
work for Cray, can then backup the new find.

Regards,
George

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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 03:24:58 +0200 (MET DST)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Mersenne: SF Examiner story

    Page A-12 of the June 30, 1999 San Francisco Examiner
has a story `Math expert confirms a prime discovery'
repeating the Oregonian story abut M38.  
The report does not give the precise exponent.
The report mentions only George Woltman by name.

    Peter


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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 19:43:27 -0700
From: Luke Welsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: Is M38 in Seattle Times ?

Anybody in the Seattle area?

"front section, page 3 of Seattle Times." of a recent edition?
Online search fails.

- --Luke

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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 14:02:35 +1000
From: Simon Burge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: M38

I notice that there's a page on the net somewhere that lists
M38.  I take it that this isn't meant to be public information
yet?

The page belongs to a previous record holder...

Simon (guessing around 6972???, but then I know now :-).
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Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 21:24:32 -0700
From: "Joth Tupper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Is M38 in Seattle Times ?

Yup.  Page 3, section A, of Tuesday, June 29, 1999 edition of the Seattle
Times.

"Largest prime ever weighs in at more than 2 million digits" by Ruth
Bennett, Newhouse News Service.

Perhaps the most significant additions(and I may have simply overlooked
these) to the online article (URL already posted) are:

a few details about the discoverer (a Ford Motor company employee) and the
observation that the previous record prime (about 0.9 million digits) would,
if printed in 12 point type, stretch almost 2.5 miles.

Does that mean that M38 is the first known 12pt  5 mile prime?

Joth
- ----- Original Message -----
From: Luke Welsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 7:43 PM
Subject: Mersenne: Is M38 in Seattle Times ?


> Anybody in the Seattle area?
>
> "front section, page 3 of Seattle Times." of a recent edition?
> Online search fails.
>
> --Luke
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
>

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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 02:21:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lucas Wiman  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

>The page belongs to a previous record holder...
Took me about 30 seconds to find it.
It's nice to see a thirty-eighth line in /root/math/ref/mers...

- -Lucas Wiman

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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 11:44:20 -0700
From: Lang Pal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: Mersenne 3/2 conjecture

I have thought very much over your columns and perceived the following:

If I replace into the first column the log of (arctan (Mersenne prime
exponents)^their index) instead of your first column,(i.e log of (3/2)^n) and
the second column remains the  same, then you receive a correlation coeficient
= 0.9969136, because the limes of arctan (any great number) is PI/2. What is
your opinion? Is it false?
                                                                   Best
regards
                                                                    Paul
La'ng
                                                            Budapest, Hungary

Jud McCranie wrote:

> If you take the following comma delimited file into a spreadsheet, and
> graph it (say with a line chart) it shows the relationship of Mersenne
> exponents to their index, for the first 37 Mersenne primes.  The first
> column is the log of (3/2)^n, the second column is the log of the exponent
> of the nth Mersenne prime.
>
>

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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 05:48:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lucas Wiman  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: More on the FAQ

All,
I've done a bit more work on the FAQ,  I added the two responses
Brian sent.  I also broke it up into sections:
1 - introductory stuff
2 - The LL test
3 - Factoring and sieving
4 - Mersenne prime and factor distribution
5 - FFT and DWT
6 - History and Who cares

As the FAQ has grown to 14k, I will conserve our bandwidth, it is available
at http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
for any who care to read it.
Section one is pretty well covered (I might add something about nomeclature),
as are sections 2 and 3.  In section 4 I need a fair amount of information
on mersenne prime distribution, and whether or not there are an infinity
of mersenne primes.  I don't know if section 5 will ever get written, or
if it needs to be.  If it does get written it probably won't be by me, since
I don't know enough about such things.  I think that with the aid of Luke's
and Chris Caldwell's sites I should be able to do this pretty easily.

- -Lucas Wiman
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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 12:22:46 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

At 02:21 01.07.99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
>>The page belongs to a previous record holder...
>Took me about 30 seconds to find it.
>It's nice to see a thirty-eighth line in /root/math/ref/mers...

I didn't! Am I _that_ bad at searching the web? I looked at Gordon's page
and Roland's page (found nothing), but couldn't find Joel's page.

Help! :-)

/* Steinar */


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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 05:31:00 -0500 (CDT)
From: Chris Caldwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: More on the FAQ

On Thu, 1 Jul 1999, Lucas Wiman wrote:
> All,
> I've done a bit more work on the FAQ,  I added the two responses

I'd strongly suggest using the strength of the web and connecting many of
the answers to the fuller explanations already on the web. E.g., those you
mention using (or planing to use) below without reference in your draft. 
(I assume you'll do this eventually, but sometimes it is easier to collect
references while drafting.)

> of mersenne primes.  I don't know if section 5 will ever get written, or
> if it needs to be.  If it does get written it probably won't be by me, since
> I don't know enough about such things.  I think that with the aid of Luke's
> and Chris Caldwell's sites I should be able to do this pretty easily.

For the distribution of primes see the new page

        http://www.utm.edu/research/primes/notes/faq/NextMersenne.html

which briefly discusses the Wagstaff/Lenstra/Pomerance e^gamma conjecture.

Chris Caldwell

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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 07:17:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lucas Wiman  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

>>>The page belongs to a previous record holder...
>>Took me about 30 seconds to find it.
>>It's nice to see a thirty-eighth line in /root/math/ref/mers...

>I didn't! Am I _that_ bad at searching the web? I looked at Gordon's page
>and Roland's page (found nothing), but couldn't find Joel's page.

You aren't searching for the right people.  He didn't say it was a *GIMPS*
record holder.  You've just gotta know where to look. 

>Help! :-)

All right, here's a hint:  he held the record for largest prime, which was also
a non-mersenne prime.  Check the largest prime by year...

- -Lucas Wiman

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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 13:22:07 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

At 07:17 01.07.99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
>All right, here's a hint:  he held the record for largest prime, which was
also
>a non-mersenne prime.  Check the largest prime by year...

David `Mr. Cray' himself? :-)

/* Steinar */


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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 13:26:00 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

At 07:17 01.07.99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
>You aren't searching for the right people.  He didn't say it was a *GIMPS*
>record holder.  You've just gotta know where to look. 

Found it -- 2^6972593-1 :-)

Well, finding that in 30 seconds must mean you knew it was there, or you
were incredibly lucky... Does George know about this?

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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 08:32:51 -0300 (EST)
From: "Nicolau C. Saldanha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

On Thu, 1 Jul 1999, Steinar H. Gunderson wrote:

> At 02:21 01.07.99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
> >>The page belongs to a previous record holder...
> >Took me about 30 seconds to find it.
> >It's nice to see a thirty-eighth line in /root/math/ref/mers...
> 
> I didn't! Am I _that_ bad at searching the web? I looked at Gordon's page
> and Roland's page (found nothing), but couldn't find Joel's page.
> 
> Help! :-)

Try the other record holders, there are not too many of them.
You can find links to their home pages at www.mersenne.org.
http://www.mat.puc-rio.br/~nicolau

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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 13:37:05 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

At 08:32 01.07.99 -0300, Nicolau C. Saldanha wrote:
>Try the other record holders, there are not too many of them.
>You can find links to their home pages at www.mersenne.org.
>http://www.mat.puc-rio.br/~nicolau

Don't worry, I've found it already. Looks like I lost the guessing game...

/* Steinar */



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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 08:04:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lucas Wiman  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

> Found it -- 2^6972593-1 :-)

> Well, finding that in 30 seconds must mean you knew it was there, or you
> were incredibly lucky... Does George know about this?
Lucky.  I went to yahoo.com and typed in 38th, and then stopped.
I realized that I should look for the record holders, and
through some obnoxious bit of trivia that my brain doesn't let go
of I happened to have his URL memorized.

Well either that or I am *SEARCHER SUPREME*, but then I would have been
the first to find it, on Landon's site.

I would assume that George would know since he probably gave the exponent
to him in the first place.

- -Lucas Wiman
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Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 14:06:49 +0200 
From: "Hoogendoorn, Sander" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Mersenne: M38

Took me a bit longer but has M38 has 2098960 digits ;-)

At 02:21 01.07.99 -0400, Lucas Wiman wrote:
>>The page belongs to a previous record holder...
>Took me about 30 seconds to find it.
>It's nice to see a thirty-eighth line in /root/math/ref/mers...

I didn't! Am I _that_ bad at searching the web? I looked at Gordon's page
and Roland's page (found nothing), but couldn't find Joel's page.

Help! :-)

/* Steinar */


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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 14:38:54 +0200
From: "Steinar H. Gunderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Mersenne: M38

At 14:10 01.07.99 +0200, Hoogendoorn, Sander wrote:
>Try Landon Curt Noll

Yes, I tried it after I send that message. The exponent is hardly secret
now that even I can find it :-)

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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 12:06:56 -0400
From: Jeff Woods <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Mersenne: M39 (yes, 39)

Very well -- I will now predict that the NEXT Mersenne prime we find will 
be discovered very shortly (within 60 days, sans verification time), and 
will be PRECISELY:

2^7682383 - 1

I say this only because I have that number reserved, and because it falls 
within the subjective "Mersenne Island" that p=6972593 makes possible.

(If you take the LARGEST Mersennes, M30 and up, and calculate the gap 
between them, you will find that the percentage is .8806259 through 
.9850544.   Thus, if I arbitrarily choose 87% either way from the current 
discovery, this gives an "Island" potential (if such exists) of another 
prime possibly between p = 6066155 and p = 7879030.   I choose to guess 
that this is the lower of the two primes in this island, if it exists, 
SOLELY because I'm too stink'n proud to think I might have missed out on 
the discovery of a WORLD RECORD find.   ;-)

Now, of course, most of you think the Island theory is bunk.   Some of you 
think it may be conjecture.   We'll find out if the THEORY (first put forth 
by Curt Noll, IIRC) holds for this find.

At 01:37 PM 7/1/99 +0200, you wrote:
>At 08:32 01.07.99 -0300, Nicolau C. Saldanha wrote:
> >Try the other record holders, there are not too many of them.
> >You can find links to their home pages at www.mersenne.org.
> >http://www.mat.puc-rio.br/~nicolau
>
>Don't worry, I've found it already. Looks like I lost the guessing game...
>
>/* Steinar */
>
>
>
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Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 12:20:51 -0400
From: Jeff Woods <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mersenne: M38

At 08:04 AM 7/1/99 -0400, you wrote:

>Well either that or I am *SEARCHER SUPREME*, but then I would have been
>the first to find it, on Landon's site.
>
>I would assume that George would know since he probably gave the exponent
>to him in the first place.

There is a very short list of people that PrimeNet notifies when a 
potential prime is found.   Scott K, George W, and several past record 
holders, along with Chris Caldwell (since he maintains the list of known 
primes).  I think Will Edgington is on that list as the pre-eminent 
factorer among us, but of that I'm not certain.   I think Luke may have 
been there, too -- not sure about that, either.   The list was published in 
a newsletter or FAQ, or perhaps in the documentation for the program.... 
I'm not sure where I saw this, but I did see it.

Curt Noll is in this group.   I am not.   Yet.   ;-)


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