some prime-related trick questions

ixfd64 · 2003-09-22, 20:06

Bored? Give these tests to your friends! :D

1. Some natural numbers have two factors. Some have three, some have four, and so on. How many have one factor?

2. Before 2^6,972,593 - 1 was discovered, what was the largest Mersenne prime whose exponent was less than 10 million?

3. Find the factors of the prime number 2^13,466,917 -1.

4. (This one's sorta dumb.) You want to do some math work with Prime95, MFAC (for double-Mersenne numbers), and Proth.exe (for Proth and other primes), but you only want one program to be running at once. Which do you load first?

Answers:

1. All of them. Every natural number has at least one factor. Notice how I didn't use the word "exactly"?

2. 2^6,972,593 - 1. It was always there, even before it is discovered.

3. 1 and 2^13,466,917 - 1. Notice the word "prime".

4. Your computer.

cheesehead · 2003-09-23, 12:42

G...r...o...a...n...!

eepiccolo · 2003-09-23, 12:53

On a more serious note, would this have been better to post in the solved puzzles section, because technically, the solution has already been given?

2003-09-22, 20:06	#1
ixfd64 Bemusing Prompter "Danny" Dec 2002 California 4526₈ Posts	some prime-related trick questions Bored? Give these tests to your friends! :D 1. Some natural numbers have two factors. Some have three, some have four, and so on. How many have one factor? 2. Before 2^6,972,593 - 1 was discovered, what was the largest Mersenne prime whose exponent was less than 10 million? 3. Find the factors of the prime number 2^13,466,917 -1. 4. (This one's sorta dumb.) You want to do some math work with Prime95, MFAC (for double-Mersenne numbers), and Proth.exe (for Proth and other primes), but you only want one program to be running at once. Which do you load first? Answers: 1. All of them. Every natural number has at least one factor. Notice how I didn't use the word "exactly"? 2. 2^6,972,593 - 1. It was always there, even before it is discovered. 3. 1 and 2^13,466,917 - 1. Notice the word "prime". 4. Your computer.

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2003-09-23, 12:42	#2
cheesehead "Richard B. Woods" Aug 2002 Wisconsin USA 2²×3×641 Posts	G...r...o...a...n...!

2003-09-23, 12:53	#3
eepiccolo Dec 2002 Frederick County, MD 2·5·37 Posts	On a more serious note, would this have been better to post in the solved puzzles section, because technically, the solution has already been given?