On Mon, 2 Dec 1996, The Deviant wrote:
On Mon, 2 Dec 1996, Paul Foley wrote:
On Sun, 1 Dec 1996 14:10:13 -0500, Scottauge@aol.com wrote:
A mercenne number is of the type:
M(p) = 2**p -1 results in a prime when p is a prime.
*Occasionally* results in a prime when p is prime. (A Mersenne number is any number of that form, prime or composite. It so happens that if M(p) is prime, p is prime)
Hopefully this will lead the way to see the pattern of prime numbers and being able to compute prime numbers in a far more efficient manner (after all a function that when given a prime number results in a prime number would be quite a kicker now wouldn't it!)
That's easy: f(x) = x
The other Mersenne primes include:
2,3,5,7,13,17,19,31,127,61,89, and 107.
2, 5, 13, 17, 19, 61, 89 and 107 are not Mersenne numbers :-|
The first few Mersenne primes are: 3, 7, 31, 127, 8191, 131071, 524287, 2147483647
True.. but 1 is. 2^1-1=1
1 isn't prime. It also isn't composite. Same for zero. Mark -- finger -l for PGP key PGP encrypted mail prefered. 0xf9b22ba5 now revoked