Hi,
At 02:11 PM 4/19/00 -0700, Alan Simpson wrote:
>On http://www.mersenne.org/status.htm, it says
>"All exponents below 5,083,600 have been tested at least once."
Always believe the numbers on the status.htm page. These numbers
come from the master database consisting of all PrimeNet results and
results from those testing manually.
>However, on http://www.entropia.com/primenet/status.shtml, it says that
>there is one exponent between 4500000 and 4599999 still out (this at 19
>Apr 2000 21:00 (19 Apr 2000 14:00 Pacific)).
>
>There are then no more exponents out until 5500000 to 5599999.
>
>Can someone explain to me how I am misreading these pages?
My guess is that this one exponent was handed out by the server and
the user never returned a result. In the meantime, a manual tester did
return a result. When the exponent expired, the server handed it back
out as a first time test. The server does not know this exponent has
been tested because the last database synchronization was on Feb. 8.
BTW, the manual tester may not have been a poacher! I have handed
out a handful of exponents for double-checking once the primenet user
has gotten a good head start. There are a few people using version 14
and slower PowerMacs that can only test exponents below 5.26M and 4.8M.
There are no exponents between 5.0M and 5.6M listed by PrimeNet for
first-time checking because I've told the server to make all exponents
from 5.0M to 5.6M available for double-checking. Due to a bug in the
server this re-lists any active first time checks that are outstanding in
that range as double-checks. The end-user is unaffected because he
is still the only one that should be testing that exponent.
This is what happens when you manage two databases from 3,000
miles apart on a spare-time basis!
Hope that helps,
George
_________________________________________________________________
Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
