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Mersenne primes: Difference between revisions

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<math>Mn=2^n - 1\,\ </math>
<math>Mn=2^n - 1\,\ </math>


if <math>n\,\ </math> is not a prime number, then <math>n\,\ </math> can be written as, <math>n=a.b\,\ </math>
if <math>n\,\ </math> is not a prime number, then <math>n\,\ </math> can be written as, <math>n=a\cdot b\,\ </math>


<math>Mn=2^n-1=2^{ab}-1=(2^a-1)\cdot \left(1+2^a+2^{2a}+2^{3a}+\dots+2^{(b-1)a}\right)\,\ </math>
<math>Mn=2^n-1=2^{ab}-1=(2^a-1)\cdot \left(1+2^a+2^{2a}+2^{3a}+\dots+2^{(b-1)a}\right)\,\ </math>

Revision as of 07:52, 23 March 2008

Welcome to the Wikiversity Mersenne Primes Learning Project.

Marin Mersenne's name is widely known because of his interest in prime numbers that are one less than a power of two. Mersenne also did research in the area of the theory of music and musical instruments (see Wikipedia). Participants in this learning project are encouraged to join the distributed computing project that allows the computing power of personal computers to help search for Mersenne prime numbers (see Research Project, below).

Mersenne prime numbers

In Mathematics, Mersenne prime numbers are those prime numbers which are one less than a power of two.

if is not a prime number, then can be written as,

This implies, the Mersenne number is not a prime number if n is not prime.

To find Mersenne primes

Prime factors
2 3 First Mersenne prime
3 7 Second Mersenne prime
5 31 Third Mersenne prime
7 127 Fourth Mersenne prime
11 2047 23, 89
13 8191 Fifth Mersenne prime
17 131071 Sixth Mersenne prime
19 524287 Seventh Mersenne prime
23 8388607 47, 178481
29 536870911 233, 1103, 2089
31 2147483647 Eighth Mersenne prime
37 137438953471 223, 616318177
41 2199023255551
43 8796093022207
47 140737488355327
53 9007199254740991
59 576460752303423487
61 2305843009213693951 Ninth Mersenne prime
67 147573952589676412927
71 2361183241434822606847
73 9444732965739290427391
79 604462909807314587353087
83 9671406556917033397649407
89 618970019642690137449562111 Tenth Mersenne prime
97 158456325028528675187087900671
101 2535301200456458802993406410751
103 10141204801825835211973625643007
107 162259276829213363391578010288127
109 649037107316853453566312041152511
113 10384593717069655257060992658440191
127 170141183460469231731687303715884105727 Eleventh Mersenne prime

Research Project

Join the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. Describe your experience below.

See also