What Is A Perfect Number?

[Gyad 0]

It's funny how Math has so many interesting topics to learn about. I wouldn't be surprised that in the future, we'll have many more formulas in math. I feel bad for the students that hate math and has to endure all of this.

[lemonwonder 0]

Lol cleaver find, I know that there is some mathmatical word for it, i lernt last year but forgot.

[Beast 0]

I'm a fairly smart guy, even if I do say so myself. But I didn't understand one word of that post. No offense, but I was lost after the first sentence lol. If you could please enlighten me about what you are talking about, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[pixieloo 0]

Perfect numbers are pretty cool. But for large numbers like the sixth perfect number, it would take a lot of numbers to add up to it. Is this what mathematicians do all day? xD

[Dragonfly 0]

Thank God I'm not in school anymore and I can ignore the question without being beaten or scolded. I feel relaxed to have left (meaning passed out) school and escape from Mr and Mrs. Stricts. Your finding is pretty cool though.

Edited August 25, 2006 by Dragonfly (see edit history)

[God-Of-Earth 0]

the perfect number is 4 because i just decided it is.lol i like 4

[tdktank59 0]

id say a perfect number would be 42... cause well its a cool number...anywaysvery interesting

[ProtoMan 0]

I think the perfect number is 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952035301852968995773622599413891249721775283479131515574857242454150695950829533116861727855889075098381754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837449448255379774726847104047534646208046684259069491293313677028989152104752162056966024058038150193511253382430035587640247496473263914199272604269922796782354781636009341721641219924586315030286182974555706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302955321165344987202755960236480665499119881834797753566369807426542527862551818417574672890977772793800081647060016145249192173217214772350141441973568548161361157352552133475741849468438523323907394143334547762416862518983569485562099219222184272550254256887671790494601653466804988627232791786085784383827967976681454100953883786360950680064225125205117392984896084128488626945604241965285022210661186306744278622039194945047123713786960956364371917287467764657573962413890865832645995813390478027590099465764078951269468398352595709825822620522489407726719478268482601476990902640136394437455305068203496252451749399651431429809190659250937221696461515709858387410597885959772975498930161753928468138268683868942774155991855925245953959431049972524680845987273644695848653836736222626099124608051243884390451244136549762780797715691435997700129616089441694868555848406353422072225828488648158456028506016842739452267467678895252138522549954666727823986456596116354886230577456498035593634568174324112515076069479451096596094025228879710893145669136867228748940560101503308617928680920874760917824938589009714909675985261365549781893129784821682998948722658804857564014270477555132379641451523746234364Thats how much I know......Why do I like this number ? Because it is PI.It is very useful in mathematics.

Edited August 26, 2006 by ProtoMan (see edit history)

[tdktank59 0]

well if we are doing that...i say the best number is still 42 but my ideal number would be a number that is NOT devisible by 1 lol figure that one out will ya?

[thewildmen2 0]

wow, so interesting, i want to show this to my brother..

[BhajunSingh 0]

I find this kind of pure mathematics very interesting personally - its also really amazing to me how people were able to come up with this stuff thousands of years ago.

Also, in case anyone's interested further in perfect numbers, each number has a direct relation with a unique Mersenne Prime number. A Mersenne prime is a prime number in the form of (2^n - 1), where n is also a prime number. So, for example, the first Mersenne prime is 3, where n = 2, the second is 7, where n = 3, and so on. To find the directly related perfect number, you take the Mersenne prime (2^n - 1) and multiply it with (2^(n - 1)).

So for example, with n = 2, the Mersenne prime is 6, and the perfect number is also 6:

(2^n - 1)(2^(n - 1))(2^2 - 1)(2^(2 - 1))(4 - 1)(2^1)(3)(2)6

And when n = 3, the Mersenne prime is 7, and the perfect number is 28:

(2^n - 1)(2^(n - 1))(2^3 - 1)(2^(3 - 1))(8 - 1)(2^2)(7)(4)28

Hope that makes some sense Anyway, so basically, since Mersenne primes are smaller and have more searching formulas, they're used to find more and more perfect numbers...and as there are only 43 known Mersenne primes, there are 43 known perfect numbers. Also, on an off note, Mersenne primes are also the largest primes known...the 43rd MPrime was about 2^30,400,000ish...just over 9 million digits long

Anyway, I ramble - I just find Mersenne primes especially, and the searching algorithms, very interesting. If anyone else wants to know more about then, http://www.mersenne.org/ is a good site - it runs the GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Primes Search) program that uses distributed computing to attempt to discover new Mersenne primes.

[garbage 0]

I think this topic, is not for me since im not that good at the mathematics, but I was thinking the pefect number might have been zero.. I dont know why, but thats the number tyhat first popped into my head

[miladinoski 1]

Wow. I knew that something like 'perfect' number existed but I thought that it was only one though I didn't know which one is it. I guessed that it was 42 like one of the repliers said

 

I saw the Wikipedia page and it explains it perfectly how you can get a perfect number with one formula

for n = 2: 2¹(2² − 1) = 6

for n = 3: 2¹2(2³ − 1) = 28

for n = 5: 2⁴(2⁵ − 1) = 496

for n = 7: 2⁶(2⁷ − 1) = 8128

I wonder what would have been if the Greeks had a simple calculator Edited January 18, 2009 by miladinoski (see edit history)