[TheRealPomax]

Not sure if this was a serious comment, but if it was: due to operator precedence in mathematics, the expressions (2^77,232,917)-1, 2^(77,232,917)-1, and 2^77,232,917-1 are identically evaluated, with the parentheses only used to aid the human eye. This in contrast to 2^(77,232,917-1), which is 2^77,232,916 and is a very different number indeed.

[kodablah]

The parens are a red herring. GP is commenting on the previous poster using 277 instead of 77 (i.e. typo).