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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.
Perfect numbers are natural numbers that equal the sum of their positive proper divisors, which are divisors excluding the number itself. 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 Mersenne prime M p = 2 p − 1 has a corresponding perfect number M p ...
In mathematics, a multiply perfect number (also called multiperfect number or pluperfect number) is a generalization of a perfect number. For a given natural number k , a number n is called k -perfect (or k -fold perfect) if the sum of all positive divisors of n (the divisor function , σ ( n )) is equal to kn ; a number is thus perfect if and ...
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.
The number 60 is a unitary perfect number because 1, 3, 4, 5, 12, 15, and 20 are its proper unitary divisors, and 1 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 12 + 15 + 20 = 60. The first five, and only known, unitary perfect numbers are:
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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.
Euclid gave a formula for (even) "perfect" numbers: N p = 2 p−1 (2 p − 1) where p and 2 p − 1 are prime numbers. [8] Euclid had listed the first four perfect numbers: 6; 28; 496; and 8128. A manuscript of 1456 gave the fifth perfect number: 33,550,336. Gradually mathematicians found further perfect numbers (which are very rare).