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So, 6 is a perfect number because the proper divisors of 6 are 1, 2, and 3, and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. [2] [4] Euclid proved c. 300 BCE that every prime expressed as M p = 2 p − 1 has a corresponding perfect number M p × (M p +1)/2 = 2 p − 1 × (2 p − 1). For example, the Mersenne prime 2 2 − 1 = 3 leads to the corresponding perfect number 2 2 ...
In number theory, a perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its positive proper divisors, that is, divisors excluding the number itself. For instance, 6 has proper divisors 1, 2 and 3, and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, so 6 is a perfect number. The next perfect number is 28, since 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28.
Mersenne primes M p are closely connected to perfect numbers. In the 4th century BC, Euclid proved that if 2 p − 1 is prime, then 2 p − 1 (2 p − 1) is a perfect number. In the 18th century, Leonhard Euler proved that, conversely, all even perfect numbers have this form. [5] This is known as the Euclid–Euler theorem.
Euclid's Elements (c. 300 BC) proves the infinitude of primes and the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, and shows how to construct a perfect number from a Mersenne prime. [15] Another Greek invention, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, is still used to construct lists of primes. [16] [17]
The Euclid–Euler theorem states that an even natural number is perfect if and only if it has the form 2 p−1 M p, where M p is a Mersenne prime. [1] The perfect number 6 comes from p = 2 in this way, as 2 2−1 M 2 = 2 × 3 = 6, and the Mersenne prime 7 corresponds in the same way to the perfect number 28.
A cluster prime is a prime p such that every even natural number k ≤ p − 3 is the difference of two primes not exceeding p. 3 , 5 , 7 , 11 , 13 , 17 , 19 , 23 , ... ( OEIS : A038134 )
Euler ascertained that 2 31 − 1 = 2147483647 is a prime number; and this is the greatest at present known to be such, and, consequently, the last of the above perfect numbers [i.e., 2 30 (2 31 − 1)], which depends upon this, is the greatest perfect number known at present, and probably the greatest that ever will be discovered; for as they ...
Another example is the distribution of the last digit of prime numbers. Except for 2 and 5, all prime numbers end in 1, 3, 7, or 9. Dirichlet's theorem states that asymptotically, 25% of all primes end in each of these four digits.