If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the 46th Mersenne, well, it’s time to send out the announcements. UCLA Mathematicians have discovered a 13-million-digit prime number, a long-sought milestone that makes them eligible for a $100,000 prize.

The group found the 46th known Mersenne prime last month on a network of 75 computers.

It’s the eighth Mersenne prime discovered at UCLA. But they’re not stopping now. They’re already on the prowl for the 47th one.

Primes are numbers like three, seven and 11 that are divisible by only two whole positive numbers: themselves and one.

One source said it would take almost three months to write the 12,978,189 digits by hand.

Hmm. It took more time to write out the 46th Mersenee than it did to work out the 107-page plan for the $700 billion buy-out.

Maybe I’ll sleep more restfully knowing the 46th Mersenne is safely tucked into its prime number haven. Or not.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26914730/