post  Our perfect number

Oromis (73)   Link to this post
Hey people,

I'm bored. So lets find us a perfect number!

I don't have much knowledge here, but I looked at wikepidea, and my idea is this:

All perfect numbers are build up like this: 2x*(2x+1-1). x is always even.
Looking at the last 7 perfect numbers, the average increase of x is a little more then 3 000 000:


03021376 3951216
06972592 6494324
13466916 7529094
20996010 3040572
24036582 1928368
25964950 4437506
30402456 2180200
32582656
average: 3065708


So if we join forces, we could write a class that is able to handle the big numbers (or use a library?) and design an algorithm that efficiently checks if a number is perfect or not. We could distribute the numbers, and everyone could have his computer run the program when he's not using it himself. According to the statistics, we need to check (3065708/2=) 1532854 numbers (only the even) before we find a perfect number. I have no idea how long it's going to take to check one number, but I'm sure the genius people on this site can work out some brilliant algorithm. We could hope to have some luck and check numbers randomly. And if everyone is willing to offer his CPU when he's not using it, maybe we can actually find such a number!

So... who's in? :D
chrisname (1342)   Link to this post
You have my sword.
Bazzy (3182)   Link to this post
So if we join forces, we could write a class that is able to handle the big numbers (or use a library?)
I suggest you using a library as GMP
jsmith (3099)   Link to this post
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.perfect.html

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