From failed candidate to chief scientist

Chapter 178 I Can't Understand
"Snapped!"

Curtis Cooper slapped himself in the face, and a bright red slap mark instantly appeared on his face.

"hiss!"

The severe pain made Curtis Cooper confirm that he was not dreaming and that everything that happened before him was real and not fake at all.

but……

But this is too unbelievable.

Curtis Cooper looked at the screen in front of him excitedly but helplessly.

15, a total of 15 new Mersenne primes, and it only took three days for these 15 new Mersenne primes to be discovered. If you want to say that this is not a dream, how is it possible?

You know, before this, it took humans hundreds of years to discover only 51 Mersenne primes, but now, in just three days, nearly one-third of the number has been completed.

This subverted Curtis Cooper's cognition and gave him a very unreal feeling.

He tapped the keyboard mechanically and posted the newly discovered Mersenne prime numbers to the GIMPS forum.

He has done this behavior 14 times in a row, so he is familiar with it and does not need to think at all.

By this time, the GIMPS forum had exploded.

【Fake!Fake!This is impossible!How can this be! 】

[Yes, this must be fake! The administrator of GIMPS is cheating!My Prime95 has not even completed the verification. How could they have discovered a new Mersenne prime number in the blink of an eye?This is impossible!This must be impossible! 】

[Yes, administrator, get out of here and clarify!Today is not April Fools' Day, this joke is not funny at all! 】

[The biggest lie of the year—GIMPS!I don't believe you anymore! 】

Curtis Cooper didn't care about the quarrels on the forum. His phone kept coming to his mind, and he had no intention of answering it. He was shaking all over now and felt like his head was going to explode.

How could there be anyone?Could anyone discover so many new Mersenne primes in such a short period of time?

And it's the same person!

How on earth did he do it?
Why did he do it?

Curtis Cooper stared at the 15 newly discovered Mersenne primes, trying to calm himself down and think about this problem.

Generally speaking, when using Prime95 to find Mersenne prime numbers, you set an interval. Within this interval, the program will verify and check each number one by one. However, because these numbers are very large numbers, you usually just run a number Verification takes a long time.

What's more, the span of these 15 Mersenne primes is particularly large. According to Prime95, a certain interval is set for investigation, and the investigation can last until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.

Moreover, even if the 15 newly discovered Mersenne primes are directly verified using Prime95, it will take a very long time, and even three days is not enough to complete the verification of these 15 Mersenne primes.

This is what Curtis Cooper can't figure out, and it's also the reason why the GIMPS forum has been arguing and questioning, and they don't want to believe this fact.

But now the fact is that Lin Mo did it and really discovered these 15 new Mersenne primes in three days.

This is counterintuitive.

Curtis Cooper couldn't figure out why.

Is it...

Curtis Cooper suddenly thought of the possibility that the other party had traveled back from the future, so he remembered these newly discovered Mersenne prime numbers, and then directly entered the accurate values ​​of these Mersenne prime numbers into Prime95, thus eliminating the need for calculations one by one. The process can output the result after only one verification, but...

Curtis Cooper shook his head and shook this ridiculous idea out of his mind.

After all, who can memorize Mersenne prime numbers through time travel? Such a long string of numbers is irregular. 15 numbers are more than 120 digits. Who can remember them.

And with this memory, why bother to remember Mersenne prime numbers? Wouldn't it be nice for him to remember some lottery numbers?

Moreover, as a scientific worker and a mathematician, how can I believe in these things that transcend fantasy?
So how on earth did he do it?

Curtis Cooper grabbed his little hair, but couldn't figure out why.

He had no choice but to reach for his cell phone again and dial the number he dialed before.

..."Hey, Cooper? Why is it you again?"

"How many times do you want me to say it, we will consider it, can you not..."

"You want to know how we do it?"

"It's okay to tell you, we have improved the algorithm for finding Mersenne prime numbers, and established a more efficient and faster algorithm, which can find Mersenne prime numbers faster..."

"You want to know about this algorithm? Sorry, this is our research secret and cannot be released yet..."

"Okay, that's it, I'm done!"

After speaking, Zhang Qihua hung up the phone impatiently.

Lin Mo looked at Zhang Qihua curiously.

"Teacher Zhang, whose phone number is it?"

"Curtis Cooper."

"Well, the manager of GIMPS is one of the people in charge."

Zhang Qihua looked at Lin Mo's expression and knew that he didn't know the name, so he quickly added an explanation.

"One of the leaders of GIMPS?"

Lin Mo's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"Teacher Zhang, please ask him quickly, when can we get the bonus?"

"bonus?"

Zhang Qihua was stunned.

"Yes, for every Mersenne prime number discovered, you can receive a bonus of US$10. We have discovered 15 now, and that's...hehehe!"

Jiang Fanjun took the topic directly.

Only then did Zhang Qihua react. He picked up the phone without hesitation and called back.

……

"Hey, Zhang, have you figured it out? Are you going to publish your algorithm? So what are we waiting for? Come on..."

When Curtis Cooper saw that it was Zhang Qihua, he picked it up without hesitation.

However, he couldn't wait for the answer he wanted.

"What? Bonus?"

There was a trace of confusion on Curtis Cooper's face.

Only then did he realize what Zhang Qihua was talking about.

That is a reward that has been on the top of GIMPS for a long time. As long as someone can discover a new Mersenne prime number, he can have a reward of 10 US dollars.

but……

Curtis Cooper seemed to remember something and his face turned pale.

"Zhang, this...that..., I'm really sorry, we don't have that much money."

The operating funds of GIMPS come from donations from Mersenne prime number enthusiasts and some scientific research institutions or companies, and the amount itself is not too large.

The reason why the bonus was established was to encourage everyone to invest in the research of Mersenne prime numbers, so the managers of GIMPS discussed and used these funds as bonuses. Even managers such as Curtis Cooper worked for free and voluntarily. Take a penny.

However, because the discovery of Mersenne primes is usually measured in years, the last Mersenne prime was discovered four years ago. Over the past four years, GIMPS's funding has continued to accumulate, reaching a considerable US$10,000+.

Considering the long time interval between the discovery of Mersenne primes, the prize has gradually increased, from the initial $5000 to the current $10.

(End of this chapter)