Let be a sequence of positive integers, where and each subsequent term can be expressed as 1 plus the product of all its previous terms. For example, and
Note that are all prime numbers.
Is it true that are all prime numbers as well?
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a 4 = 1 + 2 × 3 × 7 = 4 3
a 5 = 1 + 2 × 3 × 7 × 4 3 = 1 8 0 7 = 1 3 × 1 3 9
Therefore, a 5 is not prime.