Bits and Beyond ...
MARSENNE'S PRIME
Prime numbers are positive integers greater
than one with no factors other than one and themselves. They include
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 ... With the exception of two, all the prime
numbers are odd numbers. Prime numbers of the form 2n-1 are called
Marsenne's Prime. Marin Mersenne
(1588-1648) was a French monk who showed that the numbers 2n-1 were prime for
n=2, 3, 5, 6, 13, 17, 19, 31, 67, 127 and 257.
|