March 22, 2016

Problem of the Week

for Tuesday, March 22, 2016

A mersenne number is any number of the form 2^p - 1 where p is a prime number. The French mathematician, Mersenne, believed that any number of this form is a prime number. When p=2, the value is 3, and when p =3, the value is 7. Find the smallest mersenne number that is not prime. What is its prime factorization?

Winners of the Mersenne challenge