Mathematicians at the University of California Los Angeles claim that they have found a 13-million-digit prime number long sought by computer users.

The Los Angeles Times reported the discovery of the first verified Mersenne prime number with more than 10 million digits qualifies UCLA for a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The discovery is the 46th known Mersenne prime number and the eighth Mersenne prime discovered at UCLA.

Prime numbers are divisible only by themselves and one, such as the numbers three, seven and 11. Mersenne primes, named after the 17th century French mathematician Marin Mersenne, take the form 2P -1, where P represents a prime number, the Times added.

UCLA found the 46th Mersenne prime in August using 75 computers running Windows XP. The number was checked by a separate computer system under a different algorithm.

The EFF has been holding the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search or GIMPS, a cooperative system, which optimizes underused computing power. It performs calculations needed for the search of Mersenne primes.

EFF offers a $100,000 prize for the first Mersenne prime with more than 10 million digits. The foundation supports individual rights on the internet and organized the prime number contest to promote cooperative computing using the web.