A newly discovered prime number has broken the record as the largest number ever, consisting of 23,249,425 digits. The number called M77232917 is the 50th prime number of its kind ever found. Referred to as Mersenne prime, M77232917 is found from the twin multiplication of 77,232,917 and subtracting it. The result reaches nearly a million digits higher than the previous largest prime number, which is also prime Mersenne.
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As numbers increase, prime numbers, numbers that can only be shared by 1 and themselves, become very hard to find. They are becoming increasingly distant apart, and there is no pattern on its distribution, so it is not as simple as using algorithms. Even the formula for finding Mersenne prime numbers is not a sure method, but simply a method of minimizing where it is more likely to find it. So, after using the formula, you have to go through a complicated testing process, dividing it up with any numbers that might be a factor. For large numbers, this process takes a long time.
As part of Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), Jonathan Pace, an electrical engineer from Tennessee, made the discovery run special software on his PC. He has been searching for prime numbers for 14 years, and this is his first invention. The figure is found on December 26, 2017 by taking six days of nonstop computing.
After that, four different software programs, in four different hardware configurations, also tested the number to verify it. Mersenne's first prime record was found in January 2016, with 910,807 digits, fewer than M77232917. The latest discoveries and records consist of such a large number that it produces 9,000 pages if printed, or takes 118 kilometers by 2 numbers per centimeter. Similarly, from Science Alert.