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A123599
Smallest generalized Fermat prime of the form a^(2^n) + 1, where base a>1 is an integer; or -1 if no such prime exists.
6
3, 5, 17, 257, 65537, 185302018885184100000000000000000000000000000001
OFFSET
0,1
COMMENTS
First 5 terms {3, 5, 17, 257, 65537} = A019434 are the Fermat primes of the form 2^(2^n) + 1. Note that for all currently known a(n) up to n = 17 last digit is 7 or 1 (except a(0) = 3 and a(1) = 5). Corresponding least bases a>1 such that a^(2^n) + 1 is prime are listed in A056993.
The last-digit behavior clearly continues since, for any a, we have that a^(2^2) will be either 0 or 1 modulo 5. So for n >= 2, a(n) is 1 or 2 modulo 5, and odd. - Jeppe Stig Nielsen, Nov 16 2020
LINKS
Charles R Greathouse IV, Table of n, a(n) for n = 0..9
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Generalized Fermat Number.
MATHEMATICA
Do[f=Min[Select[ Table[ i^(2^n) + 1, {i, 2, 500} ], PrimeQ]]; Print[{n, f}], {n, 0, 9}]
KEYWORD
nonn
AUTHOR
Alexander Adamchuk, Nov 14 2006
STATUS
approved