Most people just find aliens more interesting than primes. One doesn't find
articles about prime numbers in the tabloids.
I didn't join GIMPS for the cash prizes; I'd have a better chance buying a
lottery ticket. But I'm sure many people do join for that reason, probably
the same ones who do buy lottery tickets.
And if I do happen to find a mersenne prime, the article will appear in
places like Scientific American, not the National Enquirer... ;~)
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: Nathan Russell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2001 12:06 PM
>I think the reason SETI attracts so much of the public attention is
>simply that anyone can imagine the significance of playing a role in
>discovering aliens, while the cash prizes for GIMPS (while larger than
>those for distributed.net) aren't something that really attracts
>people's attention at first glance.
>
>Nathan
_________________________________________________________________________
Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
