[math-fun] a conjecture based on Euler pol. and the Fermat's little theorem.
hello everybody, I had this idea one night a while ago, if k = n^2 - n + 41 and if 2^(k-1) = 1 mod k then k is prime. It seems to work all the time, I verified for n up to 500,000,000. In other words : n^2 - n + 41 is never a 2-psp, a pseudo-prime in base 2 (that is the conjecture). There is another one too : if k = n^2 + 3 and if 2^(k-1) = 1 mod k then k is prime. I tried to construct an argument about the factorization of n^2 - n + 41 and 2-psp's but failed to see any convincing details. I have other values that seems to work also like k = n^2 + 163 (only 1 fail), another counter example is 103*n^2 - 3945*n + 34831 when n = 2400371 it does satisfy the little fermat theorem but the number is composite : 5315987*111635707. and that polynomial (103*n^2..) is known to produce a lot of primes. Based on this I launched a series of computations but (as you may know), it all comes back to the fact that the little fermat theorem produces primes very often and if we combine it with a simple g.f. like the Euler polynomial, chances are that it will produce many primes. Even by knowing this, the best probable prime I could find is about 35000 digits. 1) I could not find any reference about this. 2) So far n^2 + 3 and the Euler pol. always produces primes and avoid the 2-psp's elegantly. 3) Maybe there is alink between class numbers and the little fermat theorem but I can't see it. My question is do you see any connections ? Simon Plouffe
People curious about the Kobon triangle problem might be interested in the progress mentioned in my latest column. http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_02_08_06.html Ed Pegg Jr
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Simon Plouffe