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Latest News
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ALLIANCE FORMED BETWEEN SB AND PRIMEGRID!
(posted by louis helm) |
Sunday, 31 Jan 2010 |
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Jean Penné also recently completed work on a new custom build of LLR (v3.8.0) that increases the efficiency of our k*2^n+1 tests by 2-5%! Testing ranges for this sub-project will be separate for now, with PrimeGrid testing and retesting pre-chosen ranges. The test space was generated by using our sieve data to eliminate test candidates which created a new database of work especially for PrimeGrid. The first range will be n = 17M - 17.2M. In the event of a prime, there will be joint discovery credit shared between SB and PrimeGrid… and the discoverer of course! PrimeGrid will also do full double checking of this range and verification of matching residues. And FYI - As far as statistics go, the PrimeGrid test credit will be awarded as BOINC credit and tabulated separately from regular SB credit. Special thanks to Rytis Slatkevičius, Lennart Vogel, and John Blazek of PrimeGrid, and Jean Penné (LLR) for helping to make this collaboration possible! And thanks to all our dedicated volunteers who contribute to crunching SB! |
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NEW SB CLIENT v25.11 AVAILABLE
(posted by louis helm) |
Saturday, 25 Jul 2009 |
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Major Enhancements
If you're upgrading from the last version of SB (released in March), you should keep using your current prime.txt file. But if this is your first move to the new client, open the prime.txt file and put your username in the appropriate place. That's it. As always, drop by the forums if you run into any trouble or have questions about the new client. |
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Thanks to more great work by George Woltman, there is now a |
YOU CAN HELP DISCOVER COLBERT NUMBERS!
(posted by louis helm) |
Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009 |
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The prime numbers SB is working to discover have officially been named Colbert Numbers, to honor Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report and leader of the Colbert Nation. Sure, Colbert has had planes, ice cream, and even bald eagles named after him. But this is the first time he has ever had an intangible concept named after him. And by definition, all Colbert Numbers are over a million digits long, making them the largest, most important things ever named for anyone, ever. Seventeen or Bust has already found five Colbert Numbers and we're continuing our search for the final six. We're not just advancing mathematics anymore -- we're uncovering scientific proof of Stephen T. Colbert's greatness! YOU CAN HELP DISCOVER THE NEXT COLBERT NUMBER: DOWNLOAD SB TODAY! (available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux) |
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I know what you're thinking. "How can I go on in a world where |
BRAND NEW CLIENT SOFTWARE !!
(posted by louis helm) |
Wednesday, 18 Mar 2009 |
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This represents a huge step forward in terms of speed and efficiency so we're recommending that anyone with previous versions of SB migrate to the new software. Major Enhancements
Remember though, this is not a "drop-in" replacement for previous SB clients. This is brand new software. So even if you're a current user, you still have to follow the instructions in "Step 3" on the download page. Also, if your current version of SB is about to finish a full test, try to let it complete before removing SB because you can't migrate workunits. Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux clients are all available now so
Special thanks to George Woltman whose work made this release possible. And drop by the forums if you run into any trouble or have questions about the new client. Thanks for your continued support and for crunching SB! |
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"RESOLUTION OF THE MIXED SIERPINSKI PROBLEM" PUBLISHED!
(posted by louis helm) |
Wednesday, 24 Dec 2008 |
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Phil Moore and I were recently able to author and publish a journal paper in INTEGERS that establishes the Mixed Sierpinski Theorem. Huge thanks to Phil Moore for his independent verification of the prime 67607 + 2^16389 and for spearheading the effort to formally publish our research. Thanks are also in order for legendary prime researcher and co-author Payam Samidoost whose foundational work with dual primes forms the basis of our proof. And of course, none of this would be computationally feasible without GIMPS founder and co-author George Woltman. The full paper is available here or you can retrieve it directly from INTEGERS by scrolling down to paper #A61 here. Thanks again to all SB participants for everything you do. We really appreciate you. Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2009! |
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You Could Be Famous!
If you're lucky enough to eliminate a multiplier, not only will you receive credit for the mathematical discovery, but you'll also have discovered an extremely large prime number: large enough to get your name in the annals of mathematical history! Eleven lucky participants have helped to discover some of the largest primes ever uncovered! You could be next!
What Is It?
SB (Seventeen or Bust) is a distributed computing system working on the Sierpinski problem. We utilizes the spare computational power of hundreds of computers around the world, creating a powerful network of machines working together on the problem. Anyone can participate: we provide software that installs on your computer and uses its "spare time" to help make mathematical discoveries. You won't even notice it's running, since it only uses your processor if it would otherwise be sitting unused.
The Sierpinski problem itself deals with numbers of the form N = k * 2^n + 1, for any odd k and n > 1. Numbers of this form are called Proth numbers. If, for some specific value of k, every possible choice of n results in a composite (non-prime) Proth number N, then that k is called a Sierpinski number. The Sierpinski problem itself is: "What is the smallest Sierpinski number?" (For a more rigorous mathematical discussion of the problem, see prothsearch.net's Sierpinski Problem page.)
John Selfridge proved, 45 years ago, that k = 78,557 is a Sierpinski number. Most number theorists believe that this is the smallest, but it hasn't yet been proven. In order to prove it, we have to show that every single k less than 78,557 is not a Sierpinski number, and to do that, we have to find some n that makes k * 2^n + 1 prime. When Seventeen or Bust was started, this had already been done for all but 17 values of k; hence the name of the project. After 7 years of computation, we have eliminated 11 multipliers: eleven down, six to go.
Who Are You Guys?
The project was started in March of 2002 as a collaboration between Louie Helm, at the University of Michigan, and David Norris at the University of Illinois. Countless individuals have also contributed to the project, most notably George Woltman (author of the GIMPS project), who contributed blindingly-fast squaring routines, and Michael Garrison, who maintains the project's central server. To these individuals and all the participants that has helped make this project possible, we sincerely thank you.
