Prime time for Oktoberfest

[essentialsaltes]

USC lost to the Ducks got licked by the Beavers and UCLA discovers the largest known Mersenne prime.

Mersenne primes, you'll recall, are those in the form (2^p) - 1, where p is itself prime.

When p=2, you get 2^2 - 1 = 3, which is prime
When p=3, you get 2^3 - 1 = 7, which is prime
When p=5, you get 2^5 - 1 = 31, which is prime
When p=7, you get 2^7 - 1 = 127, which is prime

Seems like a pattern is forming, but with p=11, you get 2047, which is obviously 23 x 89, i.e. not a prime.

This new prime is only the 46th Mersenne prime known. I would be hard-pressed to show that 43,112,609 is prime, but this new one is 2^43,112,609 - 1, a number with nearly 13 million digits.

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Oktoberfest in Munich seems to be changing for the better, as if that were possible.

Speaking of which, Chalet Edelweiss now seems to be open for business, although there's still some odd construction material about. The menu doesn't thrill me, but German beer on tap calls to me.

Comments

[colleency.livejournal.com]

Shawn and I were walking by Edelweiss tonight, and we saw friends sitting there, so we sat down to chat.

Our friend opted to eat outside, because it was too noisy inside. The airport noise was apparently quieter than the football game and children inside.

We weren't hungry, but we sampled our friends' dishes. One of our friends had the macaroni and cheese, which we dubbed macaroni and meat. It was cavatappi pasta with ground beef which had been cooked in a very small amount of tomato. The noodles weren't very cheesy. It was kind of like hamburger helper. Our other friend had mushroom and chicken in cream sauce over a potato pancake. It was very mild. Were I to order from their menu, I would try the raclette fondue with kirsch.

Our friend sampled two of the brews. He seemed to enjoy them. They served them in the correct glasses for the type of beer, too.

[essentialsaltes.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip!