A hot search appeared on major domestic websites, with only a few letters and two words——
GIMPS collapsed.
This is the first time since GIMPS was founded more than 20 years ago that it has been included in the domestic online hot search.
Many people are a little curious when they see the hotly searched name, because they have never heard of GIMPS and have no idea what GIMPS is.
Software? Website? Or what?
When I clicked on this hot search, I found that no one was talking about GIMPS at all. The hottest news was a screenshot in red font with a series of English words on it. The translation is, "The new Mersenne prime number has been verified and comes from China."
The user WangHao, the number is M8XXXXXXX."
"Messenne prime number? WangHao? What does it mean?" After carefully studying the content, many people also joined the discussion.
The thing itself is full of magic.
On average, it takes several years to find one Mersenne prime number. As a result, Wang Hao found two in just one week, and another one within a day.
Many people have questioned the previous announcement issued by Xihai University, especially those who know about Mersenne primes and GIMPS. The more they understand, the more they will question it. They know what Mersenne primes represent and want to find Mersenne primes.
How difficult it is.
Now, 13 hours later, news broke that the Mersenne prime numbers were discovered.
The whole process is like acting according to a written script.
Obviously.
GIMPS is an international open distributed network. It is impossible to cooperate with Sokai University's performance. Moreover, the numbers refreshed in red font can be verified. Some people who know it can even do it themselves according to the Lucas-Lehmer test.
Write verification code.
That's not difficult work.
Even an ordinary college student majoring in computer science can understand the Lucas-Lehmer test and then write a corresponding set of Mersenne prime number primality test algorithms as long as he studies it carefully for an hour.
So, it's true!
The conclusion is——
Relying on his research on Mersenne prime numbers and with the help of the Mersenne Number Science Laboratory, Professor Wang Hao has been able to quickly and accurately find Mersenne prime numbers!
Public opinion is a new wave of excitement!
"I'm a layman who doesn't understand it at all, but after careful study, I know how awesome this achievement is!"
"It took several years to find one Mersenne prime number. Professor Wang Hao quickly found three of them, and maybe there will be more!"
"I read in the search encyclopedia that the University of Central Missouri made the greatest contribution to GIMPS. They did a lot of publicity and found two Mersenne primes, but they will definitely switch to Xihai University in the future."
"Three Mersenne primes were found at Xihai University. How many users did this wave of publicity increase? How many people are aware of GIMPS?"
At the same time, some people turned to the key issue, "The discovery of Mersenne prime numbers will play a key role in human exploration of the mysteries of numbers. There is no doubt that Professor Wang Hao's achievement will be very significant."
Many people have begun to care about Wang Hao's research results on Mersenne primes.
Sokai University’s so-called ‘Mersenne Number Science Laboratory’ has found three Mersenne prime numbers in a row, and finding the fourth and fifth ones is actually not that big of a deal.
So what is the result?
Has the law of Mersenne prime numbers really been cracked? When the third Mersenne prime number was found, even those who firmly said that there is no law of Mersenne prime numbers did not dare to stick to their opinions 100%.
Ordinary people just gossip and feel that Chinese scholars have continuously found Mersenne prime numbers and completed top scientific research results, which represents the development of scientific research in the field of domestic mathematics and computers. They feel very excited and proud.
The academic community is more concerned with the results themselves.
…
Wang Hao did not accept an interview with the reporter. He wanted to wait for all three numbers to be verified before accepting relevant interviews together.
The Mason Mathematical Science Laboratory has always been busy. Zhang Zhiqiang is no longer staring at the computer. Several professors from the School of Computer Science take turns to be on duty, and a professor from the School of Science always comes to take a look around.
There was a conflict between the two colleges because of this result. Luan Haiping, the dean of the School of Science, always believed that the result belonged to his own college. He felt that the School of Computer Science had taken advantage of it, but he had no choice but to verify the numbers.
Only in the computer lab.
Luan Haiping and Chen Qinghua disliked each other. Luan Haiping called Chen Qinghua a "dead old man" and Chen Qinghua called Luan Haiping a "little bastard".
In this somewhat amusing and somewhat expectant atmosphere, the central laboratory spent nearly two days completing the verification of the remaining two numbers.
"The new Mersenne prime number has been verified, user WangHao from China, the number is M9XXXXXXX!"
"The new Mersenne prime number has been verified, user WangHao from China, the number is M9XXXXXXX!"
The interval between the two messages is more than 16 hours, but the appearance of each message will attract attention and trigger a new round of public discussion.
When all three numbers were verified and confirmed to be Mersenne prime numbers, even the computer laboratory involved in the verification felt very incredible.
Although Wang Hao is very sure that the three numbers are Mersenne primes, and he has verified them one by one, but if you think about it carefully, being able to confirm that a number that has not been verified is a Mersenne prime is a very amazing thing in itself.
After the last number was verified, Wang Hao immediately went to the central laboratory.
The digital verification has stopped, but Wang Hao believes that the work is not over. "The previous process will continue! I have only verified numbers below 100 million, and verification can continue for more than 100 million."
"Although this is not of great significance,...for every Mersenne prime number verified, there is a bonus of US$100,000."
This sentence cheered up everyone in the central laboratory.
The prize of $100,000 is not much, but $100,000 for each number is a lot. If they find five Mersenne primes, they can get a prize of $500,000.
If five more Mersenne primes are verified, even if a server is worn out, a new one can be bought.
Zhang Zhiqiang quickly opened the program and began to check the numbers of more than 100 million.
At this time, the account logged in on the computer received a very special message, which was sent by the GIMPS main station. It wanted to communicate with Wang Hao instantly.
Wang Hao agreed.
They made a call using the Internet. On the opposite side was a white man with white hair and wrinkles, who introduced himself as Curtis Cooper, a professor at the University of Central Missouri.
When Curtis Cooper saw young Wang Hao, he had a sad look on his face. He really didn't want to accept this job, but he had no other choice. The call had just started when he told him some bad news.
"Mr. Wang Hao, I'm sorry that the Mason Prime Electronic Frontier Foundation cannot pay a prize that is too high. We can only provide one hundred thousand dollars for discovering the first number."
"...Didn't pay?"
This is really bad news.
Curtis-Cooper explained with a sad face, "GIMPS is an open network for distributed computing. It has almost no revenue. All funds are based on international sponsorship, including server operating fees."
"Our estimate for the Mersenne prime number is about one every three years. All the funds in the foundation account cannot provide more than 200,000 US dollars in one go."
"I'm really sorry. When GIMPS was first established, the reward for each Mersenne prime number discovered was only three thousand US dollars. It was increased to one hundred thousand US dollars three years ago. The main purpose was to encourage more volunteers to participate, but...
…”
Curtis Cooper's eyes were a little sad. He never thought that one day someone would use the discovery of Mersenne primes to make money.
After Wang Hao heard this and thought about it carefully, he suddenly felt very depressed.
GIMPS, actually defaulted on the bill!
But if you think about it carefully, you will know that what the other party said should be true. GIMPS does not make money. The maintenance of the website and client relies on international sponsorship.
All I can say is that GIMPS has too little wool!
"……All right!"
Wang Hao had no choice but to passively agree to receive only 100,000 US dollars.
Curtis Cooper suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He was a little worried that the other party would hold on to him.
Although the bonus is not afraid of legal prosecution, offending a top figure in the mathematics community is not what Curtis Cooper wants to see. In addition, he also wants to know the specific content of the results, and he still has some requests from Wang Hao.
.
What I want is to know whether GIMPS can continue to be maintained.
Wang Hao found five Mersenne primes in a row, which was a fatal blow to GIMPS. Many people posted on the GIMPS forum that there was no need to continue GIMPS.
GIMPS enthusiasts are in a state of confusion, including Curtis Cooper. They participate in GIMPS and hang on to the Prime software day after day, year after year, to help find new Mersenne primes.
Then, someone quickly found five?
Then doesn’t the work they do become meaningless?
Now the number of GIMPS users has skyrocketed, the number of people online at the same time has reached one million, and the number of people online on Prime software has increased five times, but all the data seems to be meaningless.
Wang Hao relied on his own research to continuously find Mersenne prime numbers. To a certain extent, it can be said that he promoted GIMPS and also destroyed GIMPS.
After listening to Curtis Cooper's words, Wang Hao realized that his continuous discovery of Mersenne prime numbers was indeed a fatal price to GIMPS. He thought about it carefully and said with certainty, "Mr. Cooper, you don't have to worry about GIMPS's work."
, it will still be very valuable in the future.”
"I did not crack the law of Mersenne primes, I just found a more efficient way to find Mersenne primes."
"Also, my research cannot cover all Mersenne primes."
"How about this."
Wang Hao thought for a while and said, "After all the results are made public, I will provide part of the code to GIMPS so that GIMPS volunteers can verify Mersenne primes more efficiently. I think this will allow more people to find Mersenne primes.
It will also inspire more people to participate..."
Curtis-Cooper's eyes suddenly brightened. Is there a more efficient way to find Mersenne primes?