Media Release

Contact:
    Louis K. Helm               David A. Norris
    Phone: xxx/xxx-xxxx         Phone: xxx/xxx-xxxx
    E-Mail: lhelm@umich.edu     E-Mail: danorris@uiuc.edu

November 27, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



            Distributed Computing System Uncovers Gigantic Prime


(Ann Arbor, MI / Champaign, IL) - ``Seventeen or Bust,'' a distributed
computing network targeted at solving the Sierpinski Problem, has uncovered
a gigantic prime. At 0601 GMT on 27 November 2002, a participant's Athlon
T-Bird computer reported the possible prime, which is over two hundred
thousand digits in length, to the project's central server after only three
hours of computation. Five hours of additional computation by the Seventeen
or Bust creators proved that the number is, in fact, prime. The 210,186-
digit number is now the 26th largest known prime number, and is the sixth- 
largest known ``Proth prime'' -- primes of the form k*2^n + 1.

The discoverer, Stephen Gibson, was participating in a distributed effort
to solve the 80-year-old Sierpinski problem. The system uses the computing
power of hundreds of personal computers across the Internet with the help of
software developed by Louis Helm at the University of Michigan and David
Norris at the University of Illinois. Anyone can participate by downloading
the software, which communicates with the project's central server and
automatically begins work on the problem.

Despite the discovery of this gigantic prime number, the Seventeen or Bust
project is far from complete. As the name suggests, 16 more such prime
numbers must be discovered in order to put the Sierpinski problem to rest.
Helm and Norris are hopeful that the project will expand and continue to
discover large primes, and believe that this discovery will help attract
new participants.

In recent years, distributed computing has made incalculable contributions
to mathematics and science. Gigantic networks such as Distributed.Net,
SETI@Home and the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) have made
national headlines.

More information on the Seventeen or Bust project can be found at the SB
web site at http://www.seventeenorbust.com/.


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