Primes

If a prime number can be written as a a + 1 \large a^a+1 then enter the product of all possible primes of this form less than 1 0 19 10^{19}


The answer is 2570.

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1 solution

Marco Brezzi
Sep 14, 2017

Since

1 6 16 + 1 1.8 1 0 19 > 1 0 19 16^{16}+1≈1.8\cdot 10^{19}>10^{19}

We get the bound for a a

1 a 15 1\leq a \leq 15

If a a is an odd number, a a + 1 a^a+1 is even and it is surely composite, exept for the case a = 1 a=1 that gives the prime 2 2

Now suppose a a was not a power of 2 2 and let a = 2 b c a=2^b\cdot c , where 2 c 2\nmid c , c 1 c\neq 1 , so

a a + 1 = a 2 b c + 1 = ( a 2 b ) c + 1 = ( a 2 b + 1 ) [ ( a 2 b ) c 1 ( a 2 b ) c 2 + + 1 ] \begin{aligned} a^a+1&=a^{2^b\cdot c}+1\\ &=\left(a^{2^b}\right)^c+1\\ &=\left(a^{2^b}+1\right)\left[\left(a^{2^b}\right)^{c-1}-\left(a^{2^b}\right)^{c-2}+\ldots+1\right] \end{aligned}

Which is not prime, so it is necessary but not sufficient that a a is a power of 2 2 . We have only 3 3 powers of 2 2 to check

2 2 + 1 = 5 c c c c c c c Prime 2^2+1=5\phantom{ccccccc}\text{Prime}

4 4 + 1 = 257 c c c c c c c Prime 4^4+1=257\phantom{ccccccc}\text{Prime}

8 8 + 1 = 2 24 + 1 = ( 2 8 ) 3 + 1 = 25 6 3 + 1 = ( 256 + 1 ) ( 25 6 2 256 + 1 ) c c c c c c c Not prime 8^8+1=2^{24}+1=\left(2^8\right)^3+1=256^3+1=(256+1)(256^2-256+1)\phantom{ccccccc}\text{Not prime}

Hence the product of all primes of the form a a + 1 a^a+1 less than 1 0 19 10^{19} is

2 5 257 = 2570 2\cdot 5\cdot 257=\boxed{2570}

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