40th Known Mersenne Prime Reported!!

[edorajh]

Thanks jinydu for the link.

Although it would be better if I didn't read all those nonsense.

[nfortino]

Although the comments are not exactly positive, the opteron graphs show a more than modest secondary spike in the number of accounts.

[call_apple]

Just heard the story on the radio, WTOP. They also have the story on their web site. Link

[Uncwilly]

A co-worker of mine said that he heard about it on the radio and thought, "Hey, I already knew that!"

[Xyzzy]

It is on the home page of Yahoo now...

[GP2]

Originally posted by nfortino
Although the comments are not exactly positive, the opteron graphs show a more than modest secondary spike in the number of accounts.

This secondary burst of publicity is actually bigger than the first one. I don't believe CNN reported it originally. Looks like we have AP to thank for this.

We gained 6000 accounts in the first wave (from 28k to 34k). This second wave should bring even more than the first wave... more than 2500 more so far... although server downtime will surely have some negative effect.

http://opteron.mersenneforum.org/png...rom_200310.png

[nfortino]

The story is also on the home page of CNN, and a carbon copy of the article is in today's Boston Globe. I never knew the AP to nine days to break a story.

[TauCeti]

Originally posted by GP2
This secondary burst of publicity is actually bigger than the first one. I don't believe CNN reported it originally. Looks like we have AP to thank for this.

We gained 6000 accounts in the first wave (from 28k to 34k). This second wave should bring even more than the first wave... more than 2500 more so far... although server downtime will surely have some negative effect.

We even had a small first wave after the date of discovery. That was heise.de and theinquirer reporting the news. I call it the 'geek' burst. Then the european burst followed. Now some visiting european journalist must have met an AP colleaque on a toilet somewhere

Tomorrow the next print edition for subscribers of the bi-weekly c't - in my opinion the most important and respected IT magazine in germany - is published. Maybe GIMPS is mentioned and another thousand users arrive :)

Extrapolating the data, i guess 45k-accounts at the end of 2004-01-15 are not impossible. The question is: How many accounts are still there in april next year?

This forum is certainly a big motivation for a lot uf users to stick with "us".

Cheers,

Tau

[lpmurray]

Originally posted by GP2
This secondary burst of publicity is actually bigger than the first one. I don't believe CNN reported it originally. Looks like we have AP to thank for this.

We gained 6000 accounts in the first wave (from 28k to 34k). This second wave should bring even more than the first wave... more than 2500 more so far... although server downtime will surely have some negative effect.

In the last 4 hours we picked up 250+ machines per hour. This is a massive rate for us. The people that were talking about giving certificates should try and get something in gear. If we lost most people before finishing 1 LL the last time, then a certificate for only 10 LL's might get us to keep them 10 times longer by then mabe the mersenne bug will hit them and we can keep them going till a 25 LL certificate. The certificates won't mean much to people who are up there in the stats but I do think it will help give a sense of accomplishment to people just starting out. my 2 cents is i'd rather see it based on P90 years so that people that decided to do this on 10 million digit numbers will get credit for the amount of time there computer works on the numbers. I.E. I don't think checking a 6million digit number for LL should be given the same credit as someone finishing a 10 million digit, since it takes twice as long.

[GP2]

Originally posted by nfortino
The story is also on the home page of CNN, and a carbon copy of the article is in today's Boston Globe. I never knew the AP to nine days to break a story.

Is it possible they were waiting for a final verification by Ernst Mayer?

Whatever the cause for the delay, it's probably for the best... if both first and second waves had happened on the same day, it would have melted us down.

It certainly shows the power and clout of AP, in any case. Something to keep in mind the next time we find a prime.

[ewmayer]

Originally posted by GP2
Is it possible they were waiting for a final verification by Ernst Mayer?

Nope - they just took a little while to admit how interested they really were. In fact, another AP reporter is currently working on a followup story. (And no, it's not about M#41. )