A team of mathematicians at the University of California Los Angeles said it has discovered a 13-million-digit prime number.

The 46th Mersenne prime was found by using a network of 75 Windows computers. Afterward, the number was verified by a different computer system by means of using another algorithm.

Prime numbers have two distinct natural number divisors: one and themselves. 2, 7 and 13 are such examples. Named after the 17th century French mathematician Marin Mersenne, the prime numbers take the form 2P -1, where P is also a prime number.  

The 13-million-digit prime number is two to the power of 43,112,609 minus one, according to researchers.

"We're delighted," said the leader of the research project, Edson Smith of the University of California, Los Angeles. "Now we're looking for the next one, despite the odds."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an international non-profit advocacy and legal organization, has been holding the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), a collaborative project of volunteers that enhances underused computing power. This system performs the calculations which are required in the search of prime numbers.

A $100,000 prize will be offered by EFF for the first Mersenne prime with more than 10 million digits. The prize could be awarded after the publishing of the new prime, which will probably occur in the coming year.