News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:48th Mersenne prime found by Someone on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @01:12PM (#5172152)
> Mersenne primes may not be infinite ;)

The argument can be made that, because there are an infinity of primes, then either (a) even primes are also infinite, or (b) a very strange effect prevents even primes above a certain size, while allowing an infinity of odd primes. Occam's razor suggests it's (a).

Or, as another poster said: math doesn't work that way.

Re:48th Mersenne prime found by jessaustin on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @03:48PM (#5173135)
It's up to you whether this is strange or not, but the effect you're looking for is the definition of even numbers.

I don't find the GP's argument credible, but this really isn't a contradiction of it.

Re:48th Mersenne prime found by lutusp on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @04:31PM (#5173352)
> ... because there are an infinity of primes, then either (a) even primes are also infinite ...

I can't resist commenting that, because 2 is the only even prime, this makes it the oddest even number. :)