Ask HN: Why are large prime numbers important? What is the largest one found?

It’s a very generic question. Why are you asking it???

Let’s try to give some information. First read Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number

> Why are large prime numbers important?

Pehaps I’m biased, but IMHO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number#Fundamental_theore...

> What is the largest one found?

List at the bottom of the section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number#Special-purpose_al...