Largest Known Prime Number discovered

[Jurgen Keller]

(01-06-2018 10:03 PM)pier4r Wrote:  What would you answer to someone that says "what is the use of those large numbers? Why spending resources for them"?

Cryptography: Every time you enter your credit card number on the Internet to buy yet another HP calculator, prime numbers spring into action.

Nature also sometimes uses them: Some insects will live in the ground for a number of years, and come out after 13 or 17 years. Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers, and by emerging at these times, it makes it harder for predators to adapt and kill the insects, and therefore more of them survive. One bug that does this is the cicada.
(I'm not a biologist and just read that somewhere but it makes sense to me; and not related to large prime numbers only to properties of prime numbers)

Mental challenge and curiosity (which drives technological progress): Even with today’s great technology, we still have trouble finding them, or any sort of pattern associated with them.

There are many more reasons of course ...