Fortunate number
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A Fortunate number, named after Reo Fortune, for a given positive integer n is the smallest integer m > 1 such that pn# + m is a prime number, where the primorial pn# is the product of the first n prime numbers.
For example, to find the seventh Fortunate number, one would first calculate the product of the first seven primes (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 17), which is 510510. Adding 2 to that gives another even number, while adding 3 would give another multiple of 3. One would similarly rule out the integers up to 18. Adding 19, however, gives 510529, which is prime. Hence 19 is a Fortunate number. The Fortunate number for pn# is always above pn. This is because pn#, and thus pn# + m, is divisible by the prime factors of m for m = 2 to pn.
The Fortunate numbers for the first primorials are:
- 3, 5, 7, 13, 23, 17, 19, 23, 37, 61, 67, 61, 71, 47, 107, 59, 61, 109, etc. (sequence A005235 in OEIS).
The Fortunate numbers sorted in numerical order with duplicates removed:
- 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 19, 23, 37, 47, 59, 61, 67, 71, 79, 89, 101, 103, 107, 109, 127, 151, 157, 163, 167, 191, 197, 199 (A046066).
Reo Franklin Fortune (1903–1979), an anthropologist who was married to Margaret Mead, was the first to discover such numbers. He also conjectured that no Fortunate number is composite. A Fortunate prime is a Fortunate number which is also a prime number. As of 2008, all the known Fortunate numbers are also Fortunate primes.
[edit] References
- Chris Caldwell, "The Prime Glossary: Fortunate number" at the Prime Pages.
- Eric W. Weisstein, Fortunate Prime at MathWorld.
