The largest prime number discovered by Dr Curtis Cooper

Gimps (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, a global quest  to find a particular type of large prime numbers, has discovered a  new prime number which is 22, 338, 618 digits long, five million longer than the previous largest Prime. The discovered prime is written as 2^74,207281-1 which denotes two, multiplied by itself 74,207, 281 times, then take away one. This discovery could prove useful to computing in the near future. The Grimps projects has discovered 15 largest Mersenne primes during the past 20 years.

Prime numbers such as two, three, five and seven are divisible only by themselves and one and play a very important role in computer encryption and ensure that online banking, private messaging and even shopping are secure, as current encryption uses prime numbers that are hundreds of digits long, not  millions. The new prime number is named after a French monk who studied them in the 17^th century. The new large prime, the 49^th known Mersenne prime was discovered by Dr Curtis Cooper at the University of Central Missouri. The first prime number was discovered in 2005, eclipsed by second 2006.