Largest known prime number facts for kids
The largest known prime number is the biggest known integer which is a prime number. To date, it equals equals 274,207,281 − 1, but it would take 22,338,618 digits to write that entire number out. The number was found on January 7, 2016.
History
This table lists every number that was once the largest known prime number. The first known record was from 1456. The number 524,287 was the largest known prime number for 144 years.
Mn is short for 2n − 1, the Mersenne number with exponent n.
| Prime number | Number of digits | Year found | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M13 | 8,191 | 4 | 1456 | Finder not known |
| M17 | 131,071 | 6 | 1460 | Finder not known |
| M19 | 524,287 | 6 | 1588 | Found by Pietro Cataldi |
| (232+1)/641 | 6,700,417 | 7 | 1732 | Found by Leonhard Euler |
| M31 | 2,147,483,647 | 10 | 1772 | Found by Leonhard Euler |
| (264+1)/274177 | 67,280,421,310,721 | 14 | 1855 | Found by Thomas Clausen |
| M127 | 170,141,183,460,469,231,731,687,303,715,884,105,727 | 39 | 1876 | Found by Édouard Lucas |
| (2148+1)/17 | 20,988,936,657,440,586,486,151,264,256,610,222,593,863,921 | 44 | 1951 | Found by Ferrier. The largest record not set by computer. |
| 180×(M127)2+1 | 79 | 1951 | Using Cambridge's EDSAC computer | |
| M521 | 157 | 1952 | ||
| M607 | 183 | 1952 | ||
| M1279 | 386 | 1952 | ||
| M2203 | 664 | 1952 | ||
| M2281 | 687 | 1952 | ||
| M3217 | 969 | 1957 | ||
| M4423 | 1,332 | 1961 | ||
| M9689 | 2,917 | 1963 | ||
| M9941 | 2,993 | 1963 | ||
| M11213 | 3,376 | 1963 | ||
| M19937 | 6,002 | 1971 | ||
| M21701 | 6,533 | 1978 | ||
| M23209 | 6,987 | 1979 | ||
| M44497 | 13,395 | 1979 | ||
| M86243 | 25,962 | 1982 | ||
| M132049 | 39,751 | 1983 | ||
| M216091 | 65,050 | 1985 | ||
| 391581×2216193−1 | 65,087 | 1989 | ||
| M756839 | 227,832 | 1992 | ||
| M859433 | 258,716 | 1994 | ||
| M1257787 | 378,632 | 1996 | ||
| M1398269 | 420,921 | 1996 | ||
| M2976221 | 895,932 | 1997 | ||
| M3021377 | 909,526 | 1998 | ||
| M6972593 | 2,098,960 | 1999 | ||
| M13466917 | 4,053,946 | 2001 | ||
| M20996011 | 6,320,430 | 2003 | ||
| M24036583 | 7,235,733 | 2004 | ||
| M25964951 | 7,816,230 | 2005 | ||
| M30402457 | 9,152,052 | 2005 | ||
| M32582657 | 9,808,358 | 2006 | ||
| M43112609 | 12,978,189 | 2008 | ||
| M57885161 | 17,425,170 | 2013 | ||
| M74207281 | 22,338,618 | 2016 | ||
Images for kids
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Commemorative postmark used by the UIUC Math Department after proving that M11213 is prime
See also
In Spanish: Mayor número primo conocido para niños
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Largest known prime number Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.