Wagstaff prime

Wagstaff prime
Named after	Samuel S. Wagstaff, Jr.
Publication year	1989
Author of publication	Bateman, P. T., Selfridge, J. L., Wagstaff Jr., S. S.
No. of known terms	44
First terms	3, 11, 43, 683
Largest known term	(2138937+1)/3
OEIS index	A000979; Wagstaff primes: primes of form (2^p + 1)/3;

In number theory, a Wagstaff prime is a prime number of the form

{{2^{p}+1} \over 3}

where p is an odd prime. Wagstaff primes are named after the mathematician Samuel S. Wagstaff Jr.; the prime pages credit François Morain for naming them in a lecture at the Eurocrypt 1990 conference. Wagstaff primes appear in the New Mersenne conjecture and have applications in cryptography.

^ Bateman, P. T.; Selfridge, J. L.; Wagstaff, Jr., S. S. (1989). "The New Mersenne Conjecture". American Mathematical Monthly. 96: 125–128. doi:10.2307/2323195. JSTOR 2323195.

[1] Bateman, P. T.; Selfridge, J. L.; Wagstaff, Jr., S. S. (1989). "The New Mersenne Conjecture". American Mathematical Monthly. 96: 125–128. doi:10.2307/2323195. JSTOR 2323195.

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