Mersenne Numbers And Fermat Numbers

This book contains a complete detailed description of two classes of special numbers closely related to classical problems of the Theory of Primes. There is also extensive discussions of applied issues related to Cryptography.In Mathematics, a Mersenne number (named after Marin Mersenne, who studied them in the early 17-th century) is a number of the form Mn = 2n - 1 for positive integer n.In Mathematics, a Fermat number (named after Pierre de Fermat who first studied them) is a positive integer of the form Fn = 2k+ 1, k=2n, where n is a non-negative integer.Mersenne and Fermat numbers have many other interesting properties. Long and rich history, many arithmetic connections (with perfect numbers, with construction of regular polygons etc.), numerous modern applications, long list of open problems allow us to provide a broad perspective of the Theory of these two classes of special numbers, that can be useful and interesting for both professionals and the general audience.

The pioneering work of Pierre de Fermat has attracted the attention of mathematicians for over 350 years. This book provides an overview of the many properties of Fermat numbers and demonstrates their applications in areas such as number theory, probability theory, geometry, and signal processing. It is an ideal introduction to the basic mathematical ideas and algebraic methods connected with the Fermat numbers.

Since the publication of the first edition of this work, considerable progress has been made in many of the questions examined. This edition has been updated and enlarged, and the bibliography has been revised. The variety of topics covered here includes divisibility, diophantine equations, prime numbers (especially Mersenne and Fermat primes), the basic arithmetic functions, congruences, the quadratic reciprocity law, expansion of real numbers into decimal fractions, decomposition of integers into sums of powers, some other problems of the additive theory of numbers and the theory of Gaussian integers.

This book is an informal and readable introduction to higher algebra at the post-calculus level. The concepts of ring and field are introduced through study of the familiar examples of the integers and polynomials. The new examples and theory are built in a well-motivated fashion and made relevant by many applications - to cryptography, coding, integration, history of mathematics, and especially to elementary and computational number theory. The later chapters include expositions of Rabiin's probabilistic primality test, quadratic reciprocity, and the classification of finite fields. Over 900 exercises are found throughout the book.

This text originated as a lecture delivered November 20, 1984, at Queen's University, in the undergraduate colloquium series established to honour Professors A. J. Coleman and H. W. Ellis and to acknowledge their long-lasting interest in the quality of teaching undergraduate students. In another colloquium lecture, my colleague Morris Orzech, who had consulted the latest edition of the Guinness Book oj Records, reminded me very gently that the most "innumerate" people of the world are of a certain tribe in Mato Grosso, Brazil. They do not even have a word to express the number "two" or the concept of plurality. "Yes Morris, I'm from Brazil, but my book will contain numbers different from 'one.' " He added that the most boring 800-page book is by two Japanese mathematicians (whom I'll not name), and consists of about 16 million digits of the number 11. "I assure you Morris, that in spite of the beauty of the apparent randomness of the decimal digits of 11, I'll be sure that my text will also include some words." Acknowledgment. The manuscript of this book was prepared on the word processor by Linda Nuttall. I wish to express my appreciation for the great care, speed, and competence of her work. Paulo Ribenboim CONTENTS Preface vii Guiding the Reader xiii Index of Notations xv Introduction Chapter 1. How Many Prime Numbers Are There? 3 I. Euclid's Proof 3 II.

Sandifer has been studying Euler for decades and is one of the world’s leading experts on his work. This volume is the second collection of Sandifer’s “How Euler Did It” columns. Each is a jewel of historical and mathematical exposition. The sum total of years of work and study of the most prolific mathematician of history, this volume will leave you marveling at Euler’s clever inventiveness and Sandifer’s wonderful ability to explicate and put it all in context.

A fascinating journey into the mind-bending world of prime numbers Cicadas of the genus Magicicada appear once every 7, 13, or 17 years. Is it just a coincidence that these are all prime numbers? How do twin primes differ from cousin primes, and what on earth (or in the mind of a mathematician) could be sexy about prime numbers? What did Albert Wilansky find so fascinating about his brother-in-law's phone number? Mathematicians have been asking questions about prime numbers for more than twenty-five centuries, and every answer seems to generate a new rash of questions. In Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math, you'll meet the world's most gifted mathematicians, from Pythagoras and Euclid to Fermat, Gauss, and Erd?o?s, and you'll discover a host of unique insights and inventive conjectures that have both enlarged our understanding and deepened the mystique of prime numbers. This comprehensive, A-to-Z guide covers everything you ever wanted to know--and much more that you never suspected--about prime numbers, including: * The unproven Riemann hypothesis and the power of the zeta function * The "Primes is in P" algorithm * The sieve of Eratosthenes of Cyrene * Fermat and Fibonacci numbers * The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search * And much, much more

Number theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with the counting numbers, 1, 2, 3, … and their multiples and factors. Of particular importance are odd and even numbers, squares and cubes, and prime numbers. But in spite of their simplicity, you will meet a multitude of topics in this book: magic squares, cryptarithms, finding the day of the week for a given date, constructing regular polygons, pythagorean triples, and many more. In this revised edition, John Watkins and Robin Wilson have updated the text to bring it in line with contemporary developments. They have added new material on Fermat's Last Theorem, the role of computers in number theory, and the use of number theory in cryptography, and have made numerous minor changes in the presentation and layout of the text and the exercises.