Mathematicians from the University of Central Missouri, have found the largest prime number, and it is 17 million digits,with the help of a computer system running on different hardwares.
The new number, 2 to the power of 57,885,161, minus 1, has 17,425,170 digits.
They discovered this number last month, as 48th known Mersenne prime, but had to verify it on several computers to confirm it.
A prime number is a natural number that is greater than 1 and has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. For example, 5 is a prime because only 1 and 5 can evenly divide it.
This project, part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), had more than 1,000 computers running continuously for 39 days across the campus in Warrensburg. Dual-core machines were also used to check two numbers at once
The actual prime number was identified by computer 22 - a Dell desktop with an Intel dual-core processor.
This is the third Mersenne prime identified by the university. Earlier discoveries were made in 2005 and 2006.
Mersenne primes are named after 17th century French mathematician, Marin Mersenne, and are referred to as 2P-1.
The research group was led by computer science and mathematics professor Curtis Cooper.
"Every time I find one it is incredible," Cooper told Newser. "I kind of consider it like climbing Mount Everest or finding a really rare diamond or landing somebody on the moon. It's an accomplishment. It's a scientific feat."
Due to the accomplishment, Cooper might be eligible for a $3,000 GIMPS research award.
Research is underway for a 100 million-digit prime number that could fetch a $150,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based NGO.
GIMP was found by George Woltman in 1996 to invent new world-record size Mersenne prime numbers. So far, it has discovered the last 14 Meresenne primes.
