Message Forum: Re: Perfect numbers

Re: Perfect numbers

Posted By: Lucky Wizard, on host 4.60.250.177
Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2001, at 18:08:27
In Reply To: Perfect numbers posted by Wes on Tuesday, December 18, 2001, at 15:14:15:

> Last month GIMPS found the 39th known Mersenne Prime. It's the largest one yet, being about twice as long as the second largest. This means there's a new perfect number to calculate. It's going to be done tonight, and will be about 8.2 million characters long. w00t.

Two questions I've been curious about:

1. Is it possible for the exponent in a Mersenne number to be prime without the Mersenne number itself being prime?

2. Do perfect numbers or very large prime numbers have any practical uses? I remember reading about practical uses for small primes, but I never did find anything about practical uses for large primes or perfect numbers.

Lucky "Will provide a link so the non-number-theory-inclined can follow the discussion"

Link: Start here, then check the "Mersenne Prime" and "Perfect Number" links

Replies To This Message

Re: Perfect numbers - codeman38 - Tue, 12/18/2001, 18:56:18
Re: Perfect numbers - Wes - Tue, 12/18/2001, 18:22:44

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Message:	> > Last month GIMPS found the 39th known Mersenne Prime. It's the largest one yet, being about twice as long as the second largest. This means there's a new perfect number to calculate. It's going to be done tonight, and will be about 8.2 million characters long. w00t. > > Two questions I've been curious about: > > 1. Is it possible for the exponent in a Mersenne number to be prime without the Mersenne number itself being prime? > > 2. Do perfect numbers or very large prime numbers have any practical uses? I remember reading about practical uses for small primes, but I never did find anything about practical uses for large primes or perfect numbers. > > Lucky "Will provide a link so the non-number-theory-inclined can follow the discussion"
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