thesaurus.maths.org

alphabetical | galleries | topics | For Quick Reference: drag this m-button to your links toolbar

Wait for graph to load

Back to text view

broader

references red arrow pointing right

(English) : Mersenne number

Definition (keystage 3)

A number of the form

M_p=2^p−1,

where p is prime. If such a number is itself prime, it is called a Mersenne prime.
If p is composite, M_p is composite. The converse is not true.
All of the Mersenne numbers are mutually coprime.

Funded by: EU Socrates Minerva, HeyMath!, Cambridge University Press
Copyright: 2001-2004 University of Cambridge and Partners