Re: Mersenne: double checking
Hi Bryan, At 03:45 AM 11/18/98 -0500, Bryan Fullerton wrote: I've noticed that when I manually request exponents from the Primenet web page the lines to be inserted into worktodo.ini all start with Test=, but when the util gets double checking exponents itself the lines start with DoubleCheck=. Is there any functional difference between these two? Scott should tweak his web forms. There is only one difference. The probability of finding a new prime as reported by Test/Status is much smaller when the correct DoubleCheck= syntax is used. Best regards, George
Mersenne: MacLucasUNIX v4.4
Hi everyone, FYI, PrimeNet's manual testing checkin web page supports MacLucasUNIX v4.4 formatted results, as well as MacLucas v1.4. http://entropia.com/ips/manualtests.html Regards, scott
Mersenne: Extra terrestrial life
I heard that a group astronomers intend to use a similar technique to GIMPS to analyse radio wave data received from outer space to check for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Currently only 100 computers are involved but they intend to recruit as many as possible (via the internet) if initial tests are successful. Would anyone consider quitting GIMPS to go in search of ET ? Pete
Re: Mersenne: Extra terrestrial life
I wouldn't. Last time I checked on the SETI@home project (is that what they are calling it?) it didn't seem as fun as GIMPS. Large Downloads - Apparently you have to download large datasets (several megs?) to search. The datasets consist of radio signal recordings from outer space. A 7 digit number to check is much less bandwidth. Limited User Information - The tester is not given much information about the results of his search. Apparently the techniques used returned many false positives. The client informs the server of a possible match. The data is then examined more closely by a more powerful computer. The tester is not informed of the possible matches. SETI@home doesn't want every false-positive to end up in a newspaper article somewhere. Bad Odds - I've tested over 100 exponents using 13 years of cpu time. Based on the odds given by Prime95, I've had a 1 in 400 chance of finding a prime so far. I think the odds of finding ET will be magnitudes greater. The one thing going for the SETI project is that finding ET will much more important than finding the next prime number. I feel that most people will think that SETI is "cooler" than GIMPS. -Original Message- From: Pete [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mersenne List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wednesday, November 18, 1998 7:23 PM Subject: Mersenne: Extra terrestrial life I heard that a group astronomers intend to use a similar technique to GIMPS to analyse radio wave data received from outer space to check for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Currently only 100 computers are involved but they intend to recruit as many as possible (via the internet) if initial tests are successful. Would anyone consider quitting GIMPS to go in search of ET ? Pete
