Former NVIDIA Engineer Discovers Largest Prime Number Using Cloud Supercomputer

Largest Prime Number Ever Discovered Using GPU Supercomputing

Recently, a former software engineer at NVIDIA announced the discovery of the largest prime number ever found. This discovery was made possible by the powerful computing power of GPUs and has garnered significant attention in the mathematics and computing fields. This prime number was verified by the non-profit organization, "Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS)", and the discoverer is Luke Durant, residing in California, USA.

What is a Mersenne Prime?

The discovered prime number has a staggering 41,024,320 digits and is represented as (2^136,279,841)-1, also known as 'M136279841'. This number is obtained by multiplying 2 by itself 136,279,841 times and then subtracting 1, and it's known as a Mersenne prime. Mersenne primes are numbers of the form 2^p - 1, where p is a prime number. They were first mentioned by Euclid around 350 BC, and later, a French monk, Marin Mersenne, studied these numbers, leading to their namesake.

Significance of This Discovery

The newly discovered Mersenne prime breaks the previous record held by M82589933, marking a significant update after six years. Mersenne primes are mathematically crucial, and a total of 52 Mersenne primes have been discovered to date. However, as the numbers grow larger, finding primes becomes increasingly difficult. Since its establishment in 1996, GIMPS has discovered 18 Mersenne primes, setting another record with this latest find.

The Role of Cloud Supercomputers

This discovery was made possible by the powerful computing power of GPUs and cloud supercomputers. Luke Durant, an NVIDIA alumnus, joined GIMPS and deployed software and built infrastructure across multiple GPU servers available in the cloud. This established cloud supercomputer comprised thousands of GPUs across 24 data center regions spanning 17 countries, making this prime-finding project feasible.

The discovery was made when an 'A100' GPU located in Dublin, Ireland, yielded the result for M136279841 on October 11th of last year, and subsequently verified on an NVIDIA 'H100' server in San Antonio, Texas. This process involved approximately one year of testing, ultimately leading to a successful outcome.

Image source: mersenne.org

New Possibilities for GPU Supercomputing

GIMPS stated that this discovery holds significance beyond being an interesting exercise for amateur and professional mathematicians. The utility of data center GPUs demonstrates their potential role not only in artificial intelligence (AI) but also in solving mathematical problems such as prime number searches. The computing power of GPUs can also be applied to simulations involving massive datasets or cryptography. This discovery reaffirms the immense potential of GPUs, and with the advent of more powerful next-generation GPUs, there is growing anticipation for the discovery of the next largest prime number.

New Records and Future Expectations

This prime number discovery using GPU supercomputing marks a significant event symbolizing advancements in mathematics. Mersenne primes are a captivating topic for both mathematicians and the general public, and as these discoveries continue, computing technology advances alongside. It is anticipated that organizations like GIMPS will continue their prime number search with more volunteers, setting even greater records in the future.