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This is a list of articles about prime numbers. A prime number (or prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. By Euclid's theorem, there are an infinite number of prime numbers. Subsets of the prime numbers may be generated with various formulas for primes.
The table below lists the largest currently known prime numbers and probable primes (PRPs) as tracked by the PrimePages and by Henri & Renaud Lifchitz's PRP Records. Numbers with more than 2,000,000 digits are shown.
The following table lists the progression of the largest known prime number in ascending order. [3] Here M p = 2 p − 1 is the Mersenne number with exponent p, where p is a prime number. The longest record-holder known was M 19 = 524,287, which was the largest known prime for 144 years. No records are known prior to 1456.
As of October 2024 the largest known prime number is a Mersenne prime with 41,024,320 decimal digits. [1] [2] There are infinitely many primes, as demonstrated by Euclid around 300 BC. No known simple formula separates prime numbers from composite numbers.
For example, 3 is a Mersenne prime as it is a prime number and is expressible as 2 2 − 1. [1] [2] The numbers p corresponding to Mersenne primes must themselves be prime, although the vast majority of primes p do not lead to Mersenne primes—for example, 2 11 − 1 = 2047 = 23 × 89. [3]
Euler ascertained that 2 31 − 1 = 2147483647 is a prime number; and this is the greatest at present known to be such, and, consequently, the last of the above perfect numbers [i.e., 2 30 (2 31 − 1)], which depends upon this, is the greatest perfect number known at present, and probably the greatest that ever will be discovered; for as they ...
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To put in perspective the size of a googol, the mass of an electron, just under 10-30 kg, can be compared to the mass of the visible universe, estimated at between 10 50 and 10 60 kg. [5] It is a ratio in the order of about 10 80 to 10 90 , or at most one ten-billionth of a googol (0.00000001% of a googol).