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Google Primes
 by Jason Earls, author of 
 Mathematical Bliss
&
Concrete Primes
A moderately famous number (as far as numbers are concerned anyway) is 71077345. Performing aGoogle search on it brings up many explanations that run similar to this: Enter 71077345 into acalculator, flip it upside down, and you’ll see the word “ShELLOIL” spelled.After discovering this amusing factoid I thought it would be fun to experiment with the idea of findingother numbers that spelled certain words when they are read upside down on a calculator; and to see if they had any “interesting” or “unusual” mathematical properties as well.A few hours of exploration soon revealed that the number 379009 spells “GOOGLE”[1] when turnedupside down on a calculator. This number also happens to be prime (an integer with no divisors exceptitself and one). I sent this curiosity to the good people at Google Labs, along with an explanation and asuggestion that they put the number up on their main search page sometime, since they occasionally dosuch things around major holidays, but sadly I never received a reply.
(Image: Casio FX-850P scientific calculator)
Then I became curious about 379009 again. I wondered if I would find more primes by allowing as manyzeros as possible to be between the two 9s. That is, I defined a simple function, gp(
n
) = 379*10+9, and
n
used the free primality testing program PFGW[2] to search for values of 
n
that would make gp(
n
) a primenumber.It turns out there are many such Google primes. When
n
= 3, 6, 8, 9, 37, 44, 67, 111, 157, 289, 1256,1602, 2410, 2482, 2868, 3824, 3891, 6595, 8984, 9318, and 10274, gp(
n
) is a probable prime. I searchedup to
n
= 15,000 with no more values found. Because these numbers are not of an easily provable form(Google ‘primality proving’ for more information), I had to use the online ECM factorization appletwritten by Dario Alpern[3] to prove that all values up to
n
= 1,256 are actually prime numbers. Note thatgp(1256) and all those thereafter are “titanic primes”[4] since they have over 1,000 digits. Now that Google Primes have been defined, I think the question of whether there are infinitely many willremain unanswered for quite some time. When do you think the field of number theory will becomecapable of handling such questions as the former? Can you find a larger Google probable prime, or proveone of the larger probable prime values listed above?Imagine a calculator with an infinitely long display, enter the number 379000...(insert as many zeros hereas you like)...9 and it will always spell Go...ogle when flipped upside down on a calculator. But whatabout concrete primes? That is, a prime with a word or phrase “pictured” in its decimal expansion after certain digits have been
bolded
.That’s simple. Here is the first Google concrete prime:
 
Google Concrete Prime
37900937900937900937900937900937900937900937900937900937900937900930000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000930000
999999
00000
9999
000000
9999
00000
999999
000
99
00000000
99999999
00093000
99
0000
99
000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
000
99
0000
99
00
99
00000000
99
00000000093000
99
00000000
99
0000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
00000000
99
00000000
99
00000000093000
99
00000000
99
0000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
00000000
99
00000000
9999999
000093000
99
00
999
000
99
0000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
00
999
000
99
00000000
99
00000000093000
99
0000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
00000000
99
00000000093000
99
0000
99
000
99
00
99
0000
99
00
99
000
99
0000
99
00
99
00000000
99
000000000930000
999999
00000
9999
000000
9999
00000
999999
000
99999999
00
99999999
0009300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009379009666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777*10^2913-1
References
1. Google Search Engine, http://www.google.com/2. PrimeFormGW (PFGW),
 Primality-Testing Program Discussion Group
,http://groups.yahoo.com/group/primeform/3. Dario Alpern,
 Factorization Using the Elliptic Curve Method Applet 
,http://www.alpertron.com.ar/ECM.HTM4. Chris Caldwell,
The Prime Glossary
, Titanic Prime,http://primes.utm.edu/glossary/page.php?sort=TitanicPrime(First published in a different form in
 Neometropolis
)
 Books by Jason Earls:
Underground Guitar Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ylosq39Mathematical Bliss: http://tinyurl.com/cooyybHow to Become a Guitar Player from Hell:http://tinyurl.com/ywhgueI Sin Every Number: http://tinyurl.com/yknlrdrNaked Lesbian Stalker: http://tinyurl.com/n8pzfw Concrete Primes: http://tinyurl.com/ljg3wqHeartless Bastard In Ecstasy: http://tinyurl.com/3bw6utCocoon of Terror: http://tinyurl.com/5w8eejRed Zen: http://tinyurl.com/2ylpml
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