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I don't want to rain on anyone's math geek parade, but is there a practical use for discovering primes? Is there any use beyond crunching giant numbers for the

I don't want to rain on anyone's math geek parade, but is there a practical use for discovering primes? Is there any use beyond crunching giant numbers for theoretical physics and knowing a certain number can't be divided - or is this just the math geek equivalent of knowing the Baltimore Orioles had four 20-game winners in 1971?

rwmj 15y ago
It would certainly be nice if someone improved on the Lucas-Lehmer test, or if someone found another "pattern" that unreliably produces primes like the Mersenne numbers. So in some sense, this search encourages both of those things, although regrettably it's not been enough encouragement for a discovery to be made :-(
vgnet 15y ago
There might be, but yeah, that's not the main reason for searching IMO. See http://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/why.html http://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/why.html, but it boils down to "something really interesting can be found along the way, primes relate to other important topics so learning about them has intrinsic value, there's some money in it (but you have a 99.9% chance of spending more than the prizes in your search... and you still won't win)".
AlexFromBelgium 15y ago
"Public key crypto algorithms utilize prime numbers extensively; indeed, prime numbers are an essential part of the major public key systems" http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/vpns/prime-numbers-public-key-cryptography_969 http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/vpns/prime-numb...
- andrewcooke 15y ago
  but they cannot use "biggest" primes because, typically, security relies on the prime being unknown.
  - eru 15y ago
    Yes. But they employ techniques that were at the forefront of the search for big prime numbers in earlier times.
  - prezjordan 15y ago
    Is that how cracking begins? They start with "famously" prime numbers? I've always wondered about this.

rwmj 15y ago

It would certainly be nice if someone improved on the Lucas-Lehmer test, or if someone found another "pattern" that unreliably produces primes like the Mersenne numbers. So in some sense, this search encourages both of those things, although regrettably it's not been enough encouragement for a discovery to be made :-(

vgnet 15y ago

There might be, but yeah, that's not the main reason for searching IMO. See http://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/why.html http://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/why.html, but it boils down to "something really interesting can be found along the way, primes relate to other important topics so learning about them has intrinsic value, there's some money in it (but you have a 99.9% chance of spending more than the prizes in your search... and you still won't win)".

AlexFromBelgium 15y ago

"Public key crypto algorithms utilize prime numbers extensively; indeed, prime numbers are an essential part of the major public key systems" http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/vpns/prime-numbers-public-key-cryptography_969 http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/vpns/prime-numb...

andrewcooke 15y ago
but they cannot use "biggest" primes because, typically, security relies on the prime being unknown.
- eru 15y ago
  Yes. But they employ techniques that were at the forefront of the search for big prime numbers in earlier times.
- prezjordan 15y ago
  Is that how cracking begins? They start with "famously" prime numbers? I've always wondered about this.