OK, now here something that's really interesting. Start with 1. Add 2. Then add 3. Keep going till you reach a Mersenne prime. The result is always a perfect number. Now I know you're all going to say this is because the formula for summing to a number is .5(n)(n+1), and that if you substitute (2^p)-1 for n you get .5((2^p)-1)(2^p), which is simplified to ((2^p)-1)(2^(p-1)). What I thought was interesting was the fact that all the numbers up to a Mersenne prime equal the sum of the powers of 2 before that Mersenne, plus that Mersenne, plus all those powers of two (except 2^p) times the Mersenne. It's kind of interesting to the layman, but computationally useless, since if you start with a composite, then you'll get a number that seems large, but it's not perfect. So, you'll get a whole list of wannabe perfects : - D _________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
