Largest known

prime number

The largest known prime number is 282,589,933 − 1, a number which has 24,862,048 digits when
written in base 10. It was found via a computer volunteered by Patrick Laroche of the Great
Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) in 2018.[1]

A 2020 plot of the number of digits in the largest known prime by

year, since the electronic computer. The vertical scale is logarithmic.

A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 with no divisors other than 1 and itself.
According to Euclid's theorem there are infinitely many prime numbers, so there is no largest
prime.

Many of the largest known primes are Mersenne primes, numbers that are one less than a power
of two, because they can utilize a specialized primality test that is faster than the general one.
As of June 2023, the six largest known primes are Mersenne primes.[2] The last seventeen
record primes were Mersenne primes.[3][4] The binary representation of any Mersenne prime is
composed of all ones, since the binary form of 2k − 1 is simply k ones.[5]

Current record
The record is currently held by 282,589,933 − 1 with 24,862,048 digits, found by GIMPS in
December 2018.[1] The first and last 120 digits of its value are shown below:

14889444574204132554780645847239791660302627399279532418527128942521
3239361064475310309971132180337174752834401423587560 ...

(24,861,808 digits skipped)

...
06210755794795829753159520880719269367652178218447252664007691211435
5308311969487633766457823695074037951210325217902591[6]

As of February 2024, this prime has held the record for more than 5 years, longer than any other
prime since M19937 (which held the record for 7 years from 1971 to 1978).

Prizes
There are several prizes offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for record primes.[7]
A prime with one million digits was found in 1999, earning the discoverer a US$50,000 prize.[8] In
2008, a ten-million digit prime won a US$100,000 prize and a Cooperative Computing Award
from the EFF.[7] Time called this prime the 29th top invention of 2008.[9]

Both of these primes were discovered through the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
(GIMPS), which coordinates long-range search efforts among tens of thousands of computers
and thousands of volunteers. The $50,000 prize went to the discoverer and the $100,000 prize
went to GIMPS. GIMPS will split the US$150,000 prize for the first prime of over 100 million
digits with the winning participant. A further prize is offered for the first prime with at least one
billion digits.[7]

GIMPS also offers a US$3,000 research discovery award for participants who discover a new
Mersenne prime of less than 100 million digits.[10]

History of largest known

prime numbers

Commemorative postmark used by the UIUC

Math Department after proving that M11213 is
prime

The following table lists the progression of the largest known prime number in ascending
order.[3] Here Mp = 2p − 1 is the Mersenne number with exponent p, where p is a prime number.
The longest record-holder known was M19 = 524,287, which was the largest known prime for 144
years. No records are known prior to 1456.
 Decimal expansion Year
Number Digits Discoverer
(partial for numbers > M1000) found

M13 8,191 4 1456 Anonymous

M17 131,071 6 1588 Pietro Cataldi

M19 524,287 6 1588 Pietro Cataldi

Leonhard Euler?
Euler did not
explicitly publish
the primality of
6,700,417, but the
techniques he had
used to factorise
6,700,417 7 1732 232 + 1 meant that
he had already
done most of the
work needed to
prove this, and
some experts
believe he knew of
it.[11]

M31 2,147,483,647 10 1772 Leonhard Euler

Included (but
question-marked)
in a list of primes
999,999,000,001 12 1851 by Looff. Given his
uncertainty, some
do not include this
as a record.

Thomas Clausen
67,280,421,310,721 14 1855 (but no proof was
provided).

170,141,183,460,469,
M127 39 1876 Édouard Lucas
231,731,687,303,715,884,105,727
 Decimal expansion Year
Number Digits Discoverer
(partial for numbers > M1000) found

Aimé Ferrier with a

mechanical
20,988,936,657,440,586,486,151,264,256,
44 1951 calculator; the
610,222,593,863,921
largest record not
set by computer.

J. C. P. Miller & D.
521064401567922879406069432539
2
J. Wheeler[12]
180×(M127) +1 095585333589848390805645835218 79 1951
Using Cambridge's
3851018372555735221
EDSAC computer

686479766013060971498190079908
139321726943530014330540939446
345918554318339765605212255964 Raphael M.
M521 157 1952
066145455497729631139148085803 Robinson
712198799971664381257402829111
5057151

531137992816767098689588206552
468627329593117727031923199444
138200403559860852242739162502 Raphael M.
M607 183 1952
265229285668889329486246501015 Robinson
346579337652707239409519978766
587351943831270835393219031728127

Raphael M.
M1279 104079321946...703168729087 386 1952
Robinson

Raphael M.
M2203 147597991521...686697771007 664 1952
Robinson

Raphael M.
M2281 446087557183...418132836351 687 1952
Robinson

M3217 259117086013...362909315071 969 1957 Hans Riesel

M4423 285542542228...902608580607 1,332 1961 Alexander Hurwitz

 Decimal expansion Year
Number Digits Discoverer
(partial for numbers > M1000) found

M9689 478220278805...826225754111 2,917 1963 Donald B. Gillies

M9941 346088282490...883789463551 2,993 1963 Donald B. Gillies

M11213 281411201369...087696392191 3,376 1963 Donald B. Gillies

M19937 431542479738...030968041471 6,002 1971 Bryant Tuckerman

Laura A. Nickel
M21701 448679166119...353511882751 6,533 1978 and Landon Curt
Noll[13]

Landon Curt
M23209 402874115778...523779264511 6,987 1979
Noll[13]

David Slowinski
M44497 854509824303...961011228671 13,395 1979 and Harry L.
Nelson[13]

M86243 536927995502...709433438207 25,962 1982 David Slowinski[13]

M132049 512740276269...455730061311 39,751 1983 David Slowinski[13]

M216091 746093103064...103815528447 65,050 1985 David Slowinski[13]

A group, "Amdahl
Six": John Brown,
Landon Curt Noll,
B. K. Parady, Gene
Ward Smith, Joel
F. Smith, Sergio E.
148140632376...836387377151 65,087 1989 Zarantonello.[14][15]
Largest non-
Mersenne prime
that was the
largest known
prime when it was
discovered.

David Slowinski
M756839 174135906820...328544677887 227,832 1992
and Paul Gage[13]
 Decimal expansion Year
Number Digits Discoverer
(partial for numbers > M1000) found

David Slowinski
M859433 129498125604...243500142591 258,716 1994
and Paul Gage[13]

David Slowinski
M1257787 412245773621...976089366527 378,632 1996
and Paul Gage[13]

GIMPS, Joel
M1398269 814717564412...868451315711 420,921 1996
Armengaud

GIMPS, Gordon
M2976221 623340076248...743729201151 895,932 1997
Spence

GIMPS, Roland
M3021377 127411683030...973024694271 909,526 1998
Clarkson

GIMPS, Nayan
M6972593 437075744127...142924193791 2,098,960 1999
Hajratwala

GIMPS, Michael
M13466917 924947738006...470256259071 4,053,946 2001
Cameron

GIMPS, Michael
M20996011 125976895450...762855682047 6,320,430 2003
Shafer

GIMPS, Josh
M24036583 299410429404...882733969407 7,235,733 2004
Findley

GIMPS, Martin
M25964951 122164630061...280577077247 7,816,230 2005
Nowak

GIMPS, University
of Central
Missouri
M30402457 315416475618...411652943871 9,152,052 2005
professors Curtis
Cooper and
Steven Boone

GIMPS, Curtis
M32582657 124575026015...154053967871 9,808,358 2006 Cooper and
Steven Boone
 Decimal expansion Year
Number Digits Discoverer
(partial for numbers > M1000) found

GIMPS, Edson
M43112609 316470269330...166697152511 12,978,189 2008
Smith

GIMPS, Curtis
M57885161 581887266232...071724285951 17,425,170 2013
Cooper

GIMPS, Curtis
M74207281 300376418084...391086436351 22,338,618 2016
Cooper

GIMPS, Jonathan
M77232917 467333183359...069762179071 23,249,425 2017
Pace

GIMPS, Patrick
M82589933 148894445742...325217902591 24,862,048 2018
Laroche

GIMPS found the fifteen latest records (all of them Mersenne primes) on ordinary computers
operated by participants around the world.

The twenty largest known

prime numbers
A list of the 5,000 largest known primes is maintained by the PrimePages,[16] of which the twenty
largest are listed below.[17]
Rank Number Discovered Digits Form Ref

1 282589933 − 1 2018-12-07 24,862,048 Mersenne [1]

2 277232917 − 1 2017-12-26 23,249,425 Mersenne [18]

3 274207281 − 1 2016-01-07 22,338,618 Mersenne [19]

4 257885161 − 1 2013-01-25 17,425,170 Mersenne [20]

5 243112609 − 1 2008-08-23 12,978,189 Mersenne [21]

6 242643801 − 1 2009-06-04 12,837,064 Mersenne [22]

7 Φ3(−5166931048576) 2023-10-02 11,981,518 Generalized unique [23]

8 Φ3(−4658591048576) 2023-05-31 11,887,192 Generalized unique [24]

9 237156667 − 1 2008-09-06 11,185,272 Mersenne [21]

10 232582657 − 1 2006-09-04 9,808,358 Mersenne [25]

11 10223 × 231172165 + 1 2016-10-31 9,383,761 Proth [26]

12 230402457 − 1 2005-12-15 9,152,052 Mersenne [27]

13 225964951 − 1 2005-02-18 7,816,230 Mersenne [28]

14 224036583 − 1 2004-05-15 7,235,733 Mersenne [29]

15 19637361048576 + 1 2022-09-24 6,598,776 Generalized Fermat [30]

16 19517341048576 + 1 2022-08-09 6,595,985 Generalized Fermat [31]

17 202705 × 221320516 + 1 2021-11-25 6,418,121 Proth [32]

18 220996011 − 1 2003-11-17 6,320,430 Mersenne [33]

19 10590941048576 + 1 2018-10-31 6,317,602 Generalized Fermat [34]

20 3 × 220928756 − 1 2023-07-05 6,300,184 Thabit [35]

See also

List of largest known primes and

probable primes

References

1. "GIMPS Project Discovers Largest Known

Prime Number: 282,589,933-1" (https://www.
mersenne.org/primes/press/M82589933.ht
ml) . Mersenne Research, Inc. 21
December 2018. Retrieved 21 December
2018.

2. "The largest known primes – Database

Search Output" (https://t5k.org/primes/sear
ch.php?Number=100) . Prime Pages.
Retrieved 19 March 2023.
3. Caldwell, Chris. "The Largest Known Prime
by Year: A Brief History" (http://t5k.org/note
s/by_year.html) . Prime Pages. Retrieved
19 March 2023.

4. The last non-Mersenne to be the largest

known prime, was 391,581 ⋅ 2216,193 − 1 (htt
p://t5k.org/primes/page.php?id=390) ; see
also The Largest Known Prime by year: A
Brief History (http://t5k.org/notes/by_year.h
tml) originally by Caldwell.

5. "Perfect Numbers" (http://www.personal.ps

u.edu/sxt104/class/Math140H/PerfectNu
m.html) . Penn State University. Retrieved
6 October 2019. "An interesting side note is
about the binary representations of those
numbers..."
6. "51st Known Mersenne Prime Discovered"
(https://www.mersenne.org/primes/press/
M82589933.html) .

7. "Record 12-Million-Digit Prime Number Nets

$100,000 Prize" (https://www.eff.org/press/
archives/2009/10/14-0) . Electronic
Frontier Foundation. Electronic Frontier
Foundation. October 14, 2009. Retrieved
November 26, 2011.

8. Electronic Frontier Foundation, Big Prime

Nets Big Prize (https://www.eff.org/press/r
eleases/big-prime-nets-big-prize) .
 9. "Best Inventions of 2008 - 29. The 46th
Mersenne Prime" (https://web.archive.org/
web/20081102044641/http://www.time.co
m/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,
1852747_1854195_1854157,00.html) .
Time. Time Inc. October 29, 2008. Archived
from the original (http://www.time.com/tim
e/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852
747_1854195_1854157,00.html) on
November 2, 2008. Retrieved January 17,
2012.

10. "GIMPS by Mersenne Research, Inc" (http

s://www.mersenne.org/legal/) .
mersenne.org. Retrieved 21 November
2022.
11. Edward Sandifer, C. (19 November 2014).
How Euler Did Even More (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=3c6iBQAAQBAJ&pg=P
A43) . The Mathematical Association of
America. ISBN 9780883855843.

12. J. Miller, Large Prime Numbers (https://doi.

org/10.1038/168838b0) . Nature 168, 838
(1951).

13. Landon Curt Noll, Large Prime Number

Found by SGI/Cray Supercomputer (http://w
ww.isthe.com/chongo/tech/math/prime/pri
me_press.html) .

14. Letters to the Editor (https://www.jstor.org/

stable/2324686) . The American
Mathematical Monthly 97, no. 3 (1990), p.
214. Accessed May 22, 2020.
15. Proof-code: Z (https://t5k.org/bios/code.ph
p?code=Z) , The Prime Pages.

16. "The Prime Database: The List of Largest

Known Primes Home Page" (https://t5k.or
g/primes/home.php) . t5k.org/primes.
Retrieved 19 March 2023.

17. "The Top Twenty: Largest Known Primes" (h

ttps://t5k.org/top20/page.php?id=3) .
Retrieved 19 March 2023.

18. "GIMPS Project Discovers Largest Known

Prime Number: 277,232,917-1" (https://www.
mersenne.org/primes/press/M77232917.ht
ml) . mersenne.org. Great Internet
Mersenne Prime Search. Retrieved
3 January 2018.
19. "GIMPS Project Discovers Largest Known
Prime Number: 274,207,281-1" (https://www.
mersenne.org/primes/?press=M7420728
1) . mersenne.org. Great Internet Mersenne
Prime Search. Retrieved 29 September
2017.

20. "GIMPS Discovers 48th Mersenne Prime,

257,885,161-1 is now the Largest Known
Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/prime
s/?press=M57885161) . mersenne.org.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. 5
February 2013. Retrieved 29 September
2017.
21. "GIMPS Discovers 45th and 46th Mersenne
Primes, 243,112,609-1 is now the Largest
Known Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/
primes/?press=M43112609) .
mersenne.org. Great Internet Mersenne
Prime Search. 15 September 2008.
Retrieved 29 September 2017.

22. "GIMPS Discovers 47th Mersenne Prime,

242,643,801-1 is newest, but not the largest,
known Mersenne Prime" (https://www.mers
enne.org/primes/?press=M42643801) .
mersenne.org. Great Internet Mersenne
Prime Search. 12 April 2009. Retrieved
29 September 2017.

23. "PrimePage Primes: Phi(3, -

516693^1048576)" (https://t5k.org/primes/
page.php?id=136490) . t5k.org.
24. "PrimePage Primes: Phi(3, -
465859^1048576)" (https://t5k.org/primes/
page.php?id=136107) . t5k.org.

25. "GIMPS Discovers 44th Mersenne Prime,

232,582,657-1 is now the Largest Known
Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/prime
s/?press=M32582657) . mersenne.org.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. 11
September 2006. Retrieved 29 September
2017.

26. "PrimeGrid's Seventeen or Bust Subproject"

(http://www.primegrid.com/download/SOB-
31172165.pdf) (PDF). primegrid.com.
PrimeGrid. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
27. "GIMPS Discovers 43rd Mersenne Prime,
230,402,457-1 is now the Largest Known
Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/prime
s/?press=M30402457) . mersenne.org.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. 24
December 2005. Retrieved 29 September
2017.

28. "GIMPS Discovers 42nd Mersenne Prime,

225,964,951-1 is now the Largest Known
Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/prime
s/?press=M25964951) . mersenne.org.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. 27
February 2005. Retrieved 29 September
2017.
29. "GIMPS Discovers 41st Mersenne Prime,
224,036,583-1 is now the Largest Known
Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/prime
s/?press=M24036583) . mersenne.org.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. 28
May 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

30. "PrimeGrid's Generalized Fermat Prime

Search" (https://www.primegrid.com/downl
oad/GFN-1963736_1048576.pdf) (PDF).
primegrid.com. PrimeGrid. Retrieved
7 October 2022.

31. "PrimeGrid's Generalized Fermat Prime

Search" (https://www.primegrid.com/downl
oad/GFN-1951734_1048576.pdf) (PDF).
primegrid.com. PrimeGrid. Retrieved
17 September 2022.
32. "PrimeGrid's Extended Sierpinski Problem
Prime Search" (http://www.primegrid.com/
download/ESP-202705.pdf) (PDF).
primegrid.com. PrimeGrid. Retrieved
28 December 2021.

33. "GIMPS Discovers 40th Mersenne Prime,

220,996,011-1 is now the Largest Known
Prime" (https://www.mersenne.org/prime
s/?press=M20996011) . mersenne.org.
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. 2
December 2003. Retrieved 29 September
2017.

34. "PrimeGrid's Generalized Fermat Prime

Search" (https://www.primegrid.com/downl
oad/GFN-1059094_1048576.pdf) (PDF).
primegrid.com. PrimeGrid. Retrieved
7 November 2018.
35. "PrimeGrid's 321 Prime Search" (https://ww
w.primegrid.com/download/321-20928756.
pdf) (PDF). primegrid.com. PrimeGrid.
Retrieved 17 July 2023.

External links

Press release about the largest known

prime 282,589,933−1 (https://www.mersen
ne.org/primes/?press=M82589933)
Press release about the former largest
known prime 277,232,917−1 (https://www.
mersenne.org/primes/?press=M772329
17)
Press release about the former largest
known prime 274,207,281−1 (https://www.
 mersenne.org/primes/?press=M742072
81)

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Largest_known_prime_number&oldid=122120
1853"

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