Prime numbers are numbers that cannot be divided by any other number except themselves and 1. For example, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17 are all prime numbers. Aside from their theoretical interest, large prime numbers have become increasingly important in day to day life since they underpin the cryptography that allows secure transactions to take place on the internet (such as encrypting your credit card details when you buy online).
While there are standard techniques to discover new primes, and more importantly, check whether a number really is a prime, mathematicians have not been able to discover if there is any order to the way in which primes are distributed. However, the German mathematician G.F.G. Riemann (1826-1866) noticed that the frequency of primes is highly related to the Zeta Function, now known as the Riemann Zeta Function.
The Riemann Hypothesis is that “ The real part of any non-trivial zero of the Riemann Zeta Function is ˝.” It sounds complicated (and it is!) but a lot rests on whether his hypothesis is true. There are many equations in abstract mathematics that have been solved on the assumption that the hypothesis is true – and if it isn’t, then not only would we have to look at those equations again, but it would also imply that there is a certain order to primes.
(As of 2004, the largest known prime was 7235733 digits long!)
$1,000,000 prize offered upon solving this puzzle see
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PERPLEX CITY ZOO
The Perplex City Zoo in Polygon Park was established in 75AC after the closure of the Old Town Zoo. The zoo houses a wide range of land animals but lacks the facilities for birds or large marine animals However, it remains a popular attraction of Perplex City, no doubt in part due to its collection of tretretretres
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:17 am