Prime numbers are sometimes called math’s “atoms” because they can be divided by only themselves and 1. For two millennia, ...

So, here's a real reason why finding big primes like this is important: it drives improvements in supercomputing. The Great Internet Mersenne Primes Search (GIMPS) software that volunteers install on ...

A new highest known prime number has been calculated, clocking in at nearly 5 million digits more than the previous record holder. Michelle Starr Science editor Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor ...

We all think we remember prime numbers from grade school, but just in case your memory is a little hazy, here's a quick refresher. A prime is a number that can only be divided by two other whole ...

A shard of smooth bone etched with irregular marks dating back 20,000 years puzzled archaeologists until they noticed something unique – the etchings, lines like tally marks, may have represented ...

Editor's Note: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story omitted part of the calculation for the new prime number, correctly described below as 2 multiplied by itself 57,885,161 times ...

UCLA mathematicians appear to have won a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for discovering a 13-million-digit prime number that has long been sought by computer users. While the ...

Using an arrangement of powerful computers running trillions of calculations every second, mathematicians have discovered the largest prime number yet. (In case you missed math class: A prime number ...

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) has discovered the new largest known prime number, having 22,338,618 digits, on a university computer volunteered by Curtis Cooper for the project. The ...

(CNN) — You know you’re a geek if you felt all warm and fuzzy inside when you read that headline. If you got here by accident, here’s the news: The biggest prime number yet has been discovered. It is ...