2024-10-28 16:42:00
Despite its incredible length, the new winner is divisible only by one and itself. It is the latest in a series begun in the 17th century by a French mathematical monk.
The largest known prime number is now 41 million digits long. Despite its length, there is no way to cut it into equally sized “bricks” (except into 1 bricks!). This is what mathematicians mean when they say it is divisible only by 1 or itself, the definition of a “prime” number.
It is obviously difficult to imagine such a long number, let alone what it represents. We are far beyond our imagination. Figuring out its length is a challenge in itself. If we wrote each number on a thin strip, leaving 5 mm for each character, it would measure… more than 200 km in length! If a 250-page paperback book is estimated to contain approximately 500,000 characters, it would take 80 to write the entire book. Or a good shelf for the library.
Another way to look at things: viewing 25 pages out of 4000…
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