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SCIENCE / MATHEMATICS
List: Top Ten Largest Known Prime Numbers
Date: as of October 2007
Source: UTM Prime Page maintained by Chris K. Caldwell.
Base: All primes discovered and known to be proven. The search is ongoing and the link above is regularly maintained so if you are viewing this a few years down the road and we haven't updated go check the source.
Notes: The largest known prime is almost always been a Mersenne prime. The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) was launched by George Woltman in early 1996, and has had a virtual lock on the largest known prime since that point forward. This project offers free software for users to install and maintain which then requires little of the user other than to watch and wait. Tens of thousands of users have replaced the ubiquitous inane "screen savers" with this much more productive use of their computer's idle time (and the hope of winning some EFF prize money). Want to join in? Details at the link above.
| Rank | Prime | Digits | Year Discovered |
|---|
| 1 | 232582657-1 |
9808358 | 2006 |
| 2 | 230402457-1 |
9152052 | 2005 |
| 3 | 225964951-1 |
7816230 | 2005 |
| 4 | 224036583-1 |
7235733 | 2004 |
| 5 | 220996011-1 |
6320430 | 2003 |
| 6 | 213466917-1 |
4053946 | 2001 |
| 7 | 19249·213018586+1 |
3918990 | 2007 |
| 8 | 27653·29167433+1 |
2759677 | 2005 |
| 9 | 28433·27830457+1 |
2098960 | 1999 |
| 10 | 26972593-1 |
2098960 | 1999 |
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