Mersenne Primes: History, Theorems and Lists

1. Early History

Many early writers felt that the numbers of the form 2ⁿ-1 were prime for all primes n, but in 1536 Hudalricus Regius showed that 2¹¹-1 = 2047 was not prime (it is 23^.89). By 1603 Pietro Cataldi had correctly verified that 2¹⁷-1 and 2¹⁹-1 were both prime, but then incorrectly stated 2ⁿ-1 was also prime for 23, 29, 31 and 37. In 1640 Fermat showed Cataldi was wrong about 23 and 37; then Euler in 1738 showed Cataldi was also wrong about 29. Sometime later Euler showed Cataldi's assertion about 31 was correct.

Enter French monk Marin Mersenne (1588-1648). Mersenne stated in the preface to his Cogitata Physica-Mathematica (1644) that the numbers 2ⁿ-1 were prime for

n = 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 19, 31, 67, 127 and 257

and were composite for all other positive integers n < 257. Mersenne's (incorrect) conjecture fared only slightly better than Cataldi's, but still got his name attached to these numbers.

Definition: When 2ⁿ-1 is prime it is said to be a Mersenne prime.

It was obvious to Mersenne's peers that he could not have tested all of these numbers (in fact he admitted as much), but they could not test them either. It was not until over 100 years later, in 1750, that Euler verified the next number on Mersenne's and Regius' lists, 2³¹-1, was prime. After another century, in 1876, Lucas verified 2¹²⁷-1 was also prime. Seven years later Pervouchine showed 2⁶¹-1 was prime, so Mersenne had missed this one. In the early 1900's Powers showed that Mersenne had also missed the primes 2⁸⁹-1 and 2¹⁰⁷-1. Finally, by 1947 Mersenne's range, n < 258, had been completely checked and it was determined that the correct list is:

n = 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 19, 31, 61, 89, 107 and 127.

See the table of known Mersenne primes below.

2. Perfect Numbers and a Few Theorems

Many ancient cultures were concerned with the relationship of a number with the sum of its divisors, often giving mystic interpretations. Here we are concerned only with one such relationship:

Definition: A positive integer n is called a perfect number if it is equal to the sum of all of its positive divisors, excluding n itself.

For example, 6 is the first perfect number because 6=1+2+3. The next is 28=1+2+4+7+14. The next two are 496 and 8128. These four were all known before the time of Christ. Look at these numbers in the following partially factored form:

2^.3, 4^.7, 16^.31, 64^.127.

Do you notice they all have the same form 2^n-1(2ⁿ-1) (for n = 2, 3, 5, and 7 respectively)? And that in each case 2ⁿ-1 was a Mersenne prime? In fact it is easy to show the following theorems:

Theorem One: k is an even perfect number if and only if it has the form 2^n-1(2ⁿ-1) and 2ⁿ-1 is prime. [Proof.]
Theorem Two: If 2ⁿ-1 is prime, then so is n. [Proof.]

So the search for Mersennes is also the search for even perfect numbers!

You may have also noticed that the perfect numbers listed above (6, 28, 496, 8128) all end with either the digit 6 or the digit 8--this is also very easy to prove (but no, they do not continue to alternate 6, 8, 6, 8,...). If you like that digit pattern, look at the first four perfect numbers in binary:

110
11100
111110000
1111111000000

(The binary digit pattern is a consequence of Theorem One.) It is not known whether or not there is an odd perfect number, but if there is one it is big! This is probably the oldest unsolved problem in all of mathematics.

When checking to see if a Mersenne number is prime, we usually first look for any small divisors. The following theorem of Euler and Fermat is very useful in this regard.

Theorem Three: Let p and q be odd primes. If q divides M_p = 2^p-1, then
q = +/-1 (mod 8) and q = 2kp + 1

for some integer k [Proof]. Finally, we offer the following for your perusal:

Theorem Four: Let p = 3 (mod 4) be prime. 2p+1 is also prime if and only if 2p+1 divides M_p. [Proof].

Theorem Five: If you sum the digits of any even perfect number (except 6), then sum the digits of the resulting number, and repeat this process until you get a single digit, that digit will be one. [Proof.]

3. Table of Known Mersenne Primes

Let M(p) = 2^p-1 and P(p) = 2^p-1(2^p-1). The list of all known primes p for which M(p) is a Mersenne prime (therefore P(p) is a perfect number) follows:

##	p (exponent)	digits in M_p	digits in P_p	year	discoverer	notes
1	2	1	1	----	----
2	3	1	2	----	----
3	5	2	3	----	----
4	7	3	4	----	----
5	13	4	8	1456	anonymous
6	17	6	10	1588	Cataldi
7	19	6	12	1588	Cataldi
8	31	10	19	1772	Euler
9	61	19	37	1883	Pervushin
10	89	27	54	1911	Powers
11	107	33	65	1914	Powers	note
12	127	39	77	1876	Lucas
13	521	157	314	1952	Robinson
14	607	183	366	1952	Robinson
15	1279	386	770	1952	Robinson
16	2203	664	1327	1952	Robinson
17	2281	687	1373	1952	Robinson
18	3217	969	1937	1957	Riesel
19	4253	1281	2561	1961	Hurwitz
20	4423	1332	2663	1961	Hurwitz
21	9689	2917	5834	1963	Gillies
22	9941	2993	5985	1963	Gillies
23	11213	3376	6751	1963	Gillies
24	19937	6002	12003	1971	Tuckerman	[Tuckerman71]
25	21701	6533	13066	1978	Noll & Nickel	[NN80]
26	23209	6987	13973	1979	Noll	"
27	44497	13395	26790	1979	Nelson & Slowinski	[Slowinski79]
28	86243	25962	51924	1982	Slowinski	[Ewing83]
29	110503	33265	66530	1988	Colquitt & Welsh	[CW91]
30	132049	39751	79502	1983	Slowinski
31	216091	65050	130100	1985	Slowinski
32	756839	227832	455663	1992	Slowinski & Gage et al.	(web page)
33	859433	258716	517430	1994	Slowinski & Gage
34	1257787	378632	757263	1996	Slowinski & Gage	(web page)
35	1398269	420921	841842	1996	Armengaud, Woltman, et al. (GIMPS)	(web page)
36	2976221	895932	1791864	1997	Spence, Woltman, et al. (GIMPS)	(web page)
37	3021377	909526	1819050	1998	Clarkson, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
38	6972593	2098960	4197919	1999	Hajratwala, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
39	13466917	4053946	8107892	2001	Cameron, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
40	20996011	6320430	12640858	2003	Shafer, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
41	24036583	7235733	14471465	2004	Findley, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
42	25964951	7816230	15632458	2005	Nowak, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
43	30402457	9152052	18304103	2005	Cooper, Boone, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
44	32582657	9808358	19616714	2006	Cooper, Boone, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
45	37156667	11185272	22370543	2008	Elvenich, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
46	42643801	12837064	25674127	2009	Strindmo, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
47	43112609	12978189	25956377	2008	Smith, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
48	57885161	17425170	34850339	2013	Cooper, Woltman, Kurowski et al. (GIMPS, PrimeNet)	(web page)
49?	74207281	22338618	44677235	2016	Cooper, Woltman (prime95), Kurowski & Blosser (PrimeNet), GIMPS et al.	(web page)
50?	77232917	23249425	46498850	2017	Pace, Woltman (prime95), Kurowski & Blosser (PrimeNet), GIMPS et al.	(web page)
51?	82589933	24862048	49724095	2018	Laroche, Woltman (prime95), Blosser (PrimeNet), GIMPS et al.	(web page)
52?	136279841	41024320	82048640	2024	Durant, Preda, Woltman, Blosser, et al.	(web page)

We put question marks instead of a number for the last of the Mersenne primes because it will not be known if there are other Mersenne's in between these until a check and double check has been completed by GIMPS. See the GIMPS Status Page for more information. Not all smaller exponents have been tested.

4. The Lucas-Lehmer Test and Recent History

Mersenne primes (and therefore even perfect numbers) are found using the following theorem:

Lucas-Lehmer Test: For p an odd prime, the Mersenne number 2^p-1 is prime if and only if 2^p-1 divides S(p-1) where S(n+1) = S(n)²-2, and S(1) = 4. [Proof.]

(It is also possible to start with S(1)=10 and certain other values depending on p.) In pseudo-code this test is:

Lucas_Lehmer_Test(p):
  s := 4;
  for i from 3 to p do s := s²-2 mod 2^p-1;
  if s == 0 then
    2^p-1 is prime
  else
    2^p-1 is composite;

The theory for this test was initiated by Lucas in the late 1870's and then made into this simple test about 1930 by Lehmer. The sequence S(n) is computed modulo 2^p-1 to save time. This test is ideal for binary computers because the division by 2^p-1 (in binary) can be done using rotation and addition only. (See the pages on proving primality for more information of proving numbers are prime.)

In 1811 Peter Barlow wrote in his text Theory of Numbers that 2³⁰(2³¹-1) "is the greatest [perfect number] that will be discovered; for as they are merely curious, without being useful, it is not likely that any person will attempt to find one beyond it." I wonder what he would have made of the first attempts to climb Mount Everest, to run faster miles, or to jump a longer broad jump--other tasks that are curious but not useful. Obviously no one in the late 1800's had any idea of the power of modern computers. What might we know about the machines of 50 years from now? (See also "Why find big primes?")

U-Illinois postage stamp After the 23rd Mersenne prime was found at the University of Illinois, the mathematics department was so proud that the chair of their department, Dr. Bateman, had their postage meter changed to stamp "2¹¹²¹³-1 is prime" on each envelope. This was used until the four color theorem was proved in 1976. (In 1985 Dr. Bateman printed several copies of the earlier imprint--the image on the left is from one of these.)

The 25th and 26th Mersenne primes were found by high-school students Laura Nickel and Landon Curt Noll, who, though they had little understanding of the mathematics involved, used Lucas' simple test on the local university's mainframe (CSUH's CDC 174) to find the next two primes. Their discovery of the first prime made the national television news and the front page of the New York times. They went their separate ways after finding the first prime, but Noll kept the program running to find the second--so Noll claims complete ownership. Noll searched later, and though he never found another Mersenne prime, he is one of a team that holds the record for the largest non-Mersenne prime. He currently works for Silicon Graphics.

Slowinski, who works for Cray computers, has written a version of the Lucas test that he has convinced many Cray labs around the world to run in their spare time (time that would be lost otherwise). He had to delay announcing one of his prime records until he got permission to begin looking for it. Slowinski's search for record primes is "not so organized as you would suppose" (his words), as he does not search systematically. In fact, looking at the table of Mersennes you see he missed the 29th prime but found the 30th and 31st. Colquitt & Welsh worked to fill in the gaps and found the 29th.

Enter George Woltman, an excellent programmer and organizer. Starting in late 1995 he gathered up the disparate databases and combined them into one. Then he placed this database, and a free, highly optimized program for search for Mersennes onto the web. This began GIMPS (the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) which: has now found the largest known Mersennes, has scanned all of the regions left unexplored between the previous record primes, combines the efforts of dozens of experts and thousands of amateurs, and which offers free software for most computer platforms.

In late 1997 Scott Kurowski (and others) established PrimeNet to automate the selection of ranges and reporting of results for GIMPS, now almost anyone can join this search!

5. Conjectures and Unsolved Problems

Is there an odd perfect number?

We know that all even perfect numbers are a Mersenne prime times a power of two (Theorem One above), but what about odd perfect numbers? If there is one, then it is a perfect square times an odd power of a single prime; it is divisible by at least eight primes and has at least 75 prime factors (not necessarily distinct [Hare2006], [Hare2005], [IS2003]) with at least 9 distinct [Nielsen2006]; it has at least 300 decimal digits [BCR91]; and it has a prime divisor greater that 10²⁰ [Cohen87]. For more information see [Ribenboim95] or [Guy94].

Are there infinitely many Mersenne primes?

Equivalently we could ask: Are there infinitely many even perfect numbers? The answer is probably yes (because the harmonic series diverges).

Are there infinitely many Mersenne composites?

Euler showed:

Theorem: If k>1 and p=4k+3 is prime, then 2p+1 is prime if and only if 2^p = 1 (mod 2p+1).

So if p=4k+3 and 2p+1 are prime then the Mersenne number 2^p-1 is composite (and it seems reasonable to conjecture that there are infinitely many primes pairs such p, 2p+1).

The New Mersenne Conjecture:

Bateman, Selfridge and Wagstaff have conjectured [BSW89] the following.

Let p be any odd natural number. If two of the following conditions hold, then so does the third:

p = 2^k+/-1 or p = 4^k+/-3

2^p-1 is a prime (obviously a Mersenne prime)

(2^p+1)/3 is a prime.

Notice how this conjecture is related to the theorem in the previous conjecture. See our page on The New Mersenne Conjecture for status information.

Is every Mersenne number 2^p-1 square free?

This falls more in the category of an open question (to which we do not know the answer), rather than a conjecture (which we guess is true) [Guy94 section A3]. It is easy to show that if the square of a prime p divides a Mersenne, then p is a Wieferich prime and these are rare! Only two are known below 4,000,000,000,000 and neither of these squared divide a Mersenne.

Let C₀ = 2, then let C₁ = 2^C₀-1, C₂ = 2^C₁-1, C₃ = 2^C₂-1, ... Are these all prime?

According to Dickson [Dickson v1p22] Catalan responded in 1876 to Lucas' stating 2¹²⁷-1 (C₄) is prime with this sequence. These numbers grow very quickly:

C₀ = 2 (prime)

C₁ = 3 (prime)

C₂ = 7 (prime)

C₃ = 127 (prime)

C₄ = 170141183460469231731687303715884105727 (prime)

C₅ > 10^{51217599719369681875006054625051616349} (is C₅ prime ?)

It seems very unlikely that C₅ (or many of the larger terms) would be prime, so this is no doubt another example of Guy's strong law of small numbers. Notice that if there is even one composite term in this sequences, then by theorem one all of the following terms are composite. (Landon Curt Noll tells me he has used his program calc to verify that C₅ has no prime divisors below 5*10⁵¹.)

Are there more double-Mersenne primes?

Another common early misconception was that if n=M_p is prime, then so is M_n; lets call this number MM_p (a "double-Mersenne"). Indeed each of the first four such numbers are prime:

MM₂ = 2³-1 = 7,
MM₃ = 2⁷-1 = 127,
MM₅ = 2³¹-1 = 2147483647,
MM₇ = 2¹²⁷-1 = 170141183460469231731687303715884105727.

However, the next four (MM₁₃ MM₁₇ MM₁₉ and MM₃₁) all have known factors--so are composite. Are there any more primes in this sequence? Probably not, but it remains an open question. Tony Forbes is leading a project to search for a factor of the next term: MM₆₁, you might want to join and help!

Notice the Catalan sequence above is a subsequence of this one.

C₀ = 2	(prime)
C₁ = 3	(prime)
C₂ = 7	(prime)
C₃ = 127	(prime)
C₄ = 170141183460469231731687303715884105727	(prime)
C₅ > 10^{51217599719369681875006054625051616349}	(is C₅ prime ?)