An effective prime sequence?

Let a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , a_1, a_2, a_3, \ldots be a sequence of positive integers, where a 1 = 2 a_1 = 2 and each subsequent term can be expressed as 1 plus the product of all its previous terms. For example, a 2 = 1 + a 1 = 3 a_2 = 1+a_1= 3 and a 3 = 1 + a 1 × a 2 = 1 + 2 × 3 = 7. a_3 = 1+a_1 \times a_2=1 + 2\times3=7.

Note that a 1 , a 2 , a 3 a_1, a_2,a_3 are all prime numbers.

Is it true that a 4 , a 5 , a 6 , a_4, a_5, a_6,\ldots are all prime numbers as well?

Yes No

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

2 solutions

David Vreken
Jul 19, 2018

a 4 = 1 + 2 × 3 × 7 = 43 a_4 = 1 + 2 \times 3 \times 7 = 43

a 5 = 1 + 2 × 3 × 7 × 43 = 1807 = 13 × 139 a_5 = 1 + 2 \times 3 \times 7 \times 43 = 1807 = 13 \times 139

Therefore, a 5 a_5 is not prime.

X X
Jul 20, 2018

Since there are no formula for primes nowadays,the answer should be no.

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...