most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-24T03:50:48Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/user/562 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/908/why-the-search-for-ever-larger-primes/916#916 thinkhard 2009-10-17T19:04:32Z 2009-10-17T19:04:32Z

<p>There are actually many reasons why the search for ever larger prime numbers continues even after 2300 years. Foremost it is applied number theory, secondly you can win prize money to further your research! There are also ancillary benefits such as advances in distributed computing algorithms, much like CERN (pursuing particle physics) created HTML, HTTP the first web server and the first web browser from the practical need to share information. Sure, there is a Mount Everest appeal to finding the biggest prime, but is actually about the development of ever efficient algorithms to find them. This yields greater insight to time and space complexity in computer science and computing known primes (or unknown for that matter...) can be a good benchmark for new hardware.</p>