Mersenne
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The world's largest prime number has 22 million digits
A computer at the University of Central Missouri has calculated the world's largest prime number, coming in at 22,338,618 digits and surpassing the previous record by nearly 5 million digits. Prime numbers are an important component in computer encryption, though this one is "too large to currently be of practical value," according to the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, a group dedicated to discovering rare prime numbers. The new number is called "M74207281."
