[QUOTE=ewmayer;327801]That could go in the "Misleading Headlines" thread ... "because there are none larger than this one."[/QUOTE]
What, didn't you know that there is only a limited number of numbers? :wink:

Rodrigo

[QUOTE=M29;327944]2[SUP]3[/SUP]-1 is not "2 multiplied by itself 3 times, less 1".
It is "2 multiplied by itself 2 times, less 1".[/QUOTE]

While I agree with you, I can see how a reasonable person could interpret it the other way. Just another example of the inexactness of using English to describe math functions. So, I just grit my teeth and bear it.

Do you (or anyone else) have a better way to describe Mersenne primes to a non-math person? If so, we can use it in the next press release.

BTW, there are a few other phrases in the press release that I'm not happy with. Sometimes its hard / impossible to thread the needle between mathematical exactness / explaining to the layman / cheerleading for new recruits.

Seriously, any suggestions for better wording for the next go round would be appreciated, either in the forum or by email.

Hmm, [URL="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/BE_1500"]use the thousand words[/URL] as in Simplified English Wiki? (Hmm, it is actually not that exaggerated as in the [URL="http://xkcd.com/1133/"]Up Goer Five[/URL]. [URL="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine"]Example[/URL].)

I have now read [URL="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_write_Simple_English_articles"]these guidelines[/URL] with great interest.
(Replace "English" with "math" while reading!)

P.S. And I am not trying to say that the message was not about on the level. It was! But as we see from media, they can distort anything! (Largest prime found. Ugh.)

[QUOTE=J.F.;327843]I get the impression the wait was worth it - news is catching on nicely![/QUOTE]Waiting until [I]the day after[/I], [U]the day after[/U], the Stupid Bowl was the right choice. It sucked up most of the air this weekend.

Congratulations to curtisc, and a [B]huge[/B] thanks to George et al. for writing the software that made it possible.

Let me take this opportunity to remark on how curtisc has achieved their (by far) leading position in Ghz-days doing it "the hard way" -- that is, doing LL almost exclusively instead of TF on highly productive graphics cards. Just amazing. Anybody know how many PCs they have on their farm?

Rodrigo

[QUOTE=Prime95;327950]Do you (or anyone else) have a better way to describe Mersenne primes to a non-math person? If so, we can use it in the next press release.[/QUOTE]

I suggest that "raising to a power" is not too hifalutin for the "laypeople" GIMPS is aiming at ... if someone doesn't even 'get' a junior-high-level (at worst) concept like x[sup]2[/sup], they are better off watching [i]American Idolatry[/i] and fretting about the latest hijinks of those naughty Kardashian girls.

Thus, e.g.

"2[sup]57885161[/sup] is 2 raised to the power 57885161, minus 1 ... written in binary notation, it is a string of 57885161 binary ones."

[QUOTE=Rodrigo;327953] Anybody know how many PCs they have on their farm?
Rodrigo[/QUOTE]

It seems to be a campus full of computers. See here: [URL]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=327868&postcount=409[/URL]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;327955] "raising to a power" is not too hifalutin for the "laypeople" GIMPS is aiming at [/QUOTE]

True, but it is too hifalutin for the laypeople the press is aiming at.

[QUOTE=Prime95;327950]Do you (or anyone else) have a better way to describe Mersenne primes to a non-math person? If so, we can use it in the next press release.[/QUOTE]

Maybe some variation of:

[I]57,885,161 "twos" all multiplied together.

Write down 57,885,161 "2s", then multiply them all together.

Write a two 57,885,161 times, then multiply them all together.

Write down a total of 57,885,161 different twos, then multiply them all together.[/I]

Change 57,885,161 to 5 and ask a child to do it.

[QUOTE=M29;327960]
57,885,161 "twos" all multiplied together.[/QUOTE]

I like this one best, I'll use it next time.

[QUOTE=Rodrigo;327953]that is, doing LL almost exclusively instead of TF on highly productive graphics cards[/QUOTE]
What are you talking about ;) Who does this?