Monday, December 22, 2014

Prime Number Breakthrough

Unless you've read articles like this one, you probably aren't even aware that the study of prime numbers is "a thing."  It is, however, and this news of a discovery about the size of "prime gaps," or the distance between consecutive prime numbers, could end up being a big deal.  As the article mentions, it could have implications to encryption programs like those used for cyber security, for example.

Still, it can be a hard concept to wrap your head around - that prime numbers are even all that significant to begin with!  After all, a number's just a number, right?  Who cares if it can be divided evenly by smaller numbers or not?  Well, it turns out to be pretty important, and luckily the number geeks are all over it.

No comments: