Primes and Misdemeanors

by Paul Stanford

For 2" - 1 to be prime we also need n itself to be prime, but that is not su#cient. For
example, 2$$ - 1 is composite even though 11 is prime. However, if you look at
tables of Mersenne primes it is interesting to note that if you start with 2 and use
that to make a new number 2" - 1 with n = 2 you get 3, then recycling the 3 you get
7, use n = 7 and you get 127, another prime! How long could this go on?

Let f(n) = 2" - 1. The iterations you get, starting from 2, are f%(2) = 2, f$(2) = 3, f&(2)
= 7, f'(2) = 127, f((2) = 170141183460469231731687303715884105727.

It turns out these are all prime! But what of the next one??? Well, it may be a very
long time before any of us know. The largest value of n for which 2" - 1 is known to
be prime is n = 57885161, and that after a concerted e)ort using volunteers from
around the globe. Not much chance of answering this one in our lifetimes, unless
some really new idea arrives.

Before you make a hasty conjecture (as has already been done), a cautionary piece of
history is in order. If you dene a new function to iterate you get some other
interesting numbers. Let g(n) = n& - 2n + 2. Then the iterates are g%(3) = 3, g$(3) =
5, g&(3) = 17, g'(3) = 257, g((3) = 65537, and all of these are prime! So, with
forgivable excitement, the conjecture was made that all of these will be prime,
especially as the next one, g*(2) = 4294967297, was much too large at the time for
mere mortals to conceive of factoring with their bare hands.

None, that is, until Euler combined his genius with an impish disbelief in Fermat's
conjecture to discover that g*(2) = 4294967297 = 641 * 6700417. And since then
we have found many more composite Fermat numbers, and no further Fermat
primes, leading to the complementary conjecture that all the rest are composite! It
seems that we never learn to be humble around these things

It takes a larger number to be "forever beyond reach" these days. Rather than the
now puny 4294967297 we cower before f*(2) = 2$+%$($$,'(-%(-.&'$+'$-,+'%'+$*,,,(($%*+&+
- 1, and who can blame us?