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Re: A quick discussion of Mersenne Numbers
In a message dated 96-12-01 16:17:01 EST, you write:
> On Sun, 1 Dec 1996 [email protected] wrote:
>
> > I wake of the latest find announcement, some people maybe wondering what
> the
> > heck is this?!!
> >
> > A mercenne number is of the type:
> >
> > M(p) = 2**p -1 results in a prime when p is a 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!)
>
> It doesn't. If q is a Mercenne prime, then p is prime if q = 2^p-1. It
> doesn't work the other way around. If it did, then it would be very easy
to
> find out if a number is a Mercenne prime: just add 1 and find the base 2
> logarithm and if the result is prime, then the original number is prime.
It'
> s
> much more difficult than that. It would also be possible to find an
> infinite
> number of Mercenne primes using a deterministic algorithm.
>
>
> Mark
I agree, my discussion was toooooo quick and the statement:
> > M(p) = 2**p -1 results in a prime when p is a prime.
is misleading. I was thinking the second paragraph when I was writing the
statement statement above. A case of the mind working faster than the
fingers?