Mathematicians Of The Day

17th October



On this day in 1952, D H Lehmer announced that 2n12^{n}-1 for n = 2203 and 2281 are Mersenne primes. He was aided by a SWAC computer, with the first result taking 59 minutes. SWAC had been built in 1950 in Los Angeles.

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Quotation of the day

From Frank Morley
If the angles of any triangle be trisected, the triangle, formed by the meets of pairs of trisectors, each pair being adjacent to the same side, is equilateral.
Morley's Theorem