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Brier Number


A Brier number is a positive odd number that is both a Riesel number and a Sierpiński number of the second kind. Equivalently, it is an odd number n>0 such that n2^k+1 and n2^k-1 are composite for every positive integer k.

Known examples include 3316923598096294713661, 10439679896374780276373, 11615103277955704975673, 12607110588854501953787, 878503122374924101526292469, 3872639446526560168555701047, and 623506356601958507977841221247 (OEIS A076335). These have not been proved to be the smallest Brier numbers. Clavier (2014) gave finite lists of prime factors certifying the first example.

One generalization to any integer base b>=2 requires a positive integer k to make kb^n+1 and kb^n-1 composite for every positive integer n, excluding the elementary fixed-divisor obstructions from b-1 by the conditions GCD(k+1,b-1)=GCD(k-1,b-1)=1, where GCD is the greatest common divisor. This generalized definition does not require k to be an odd number. Virbalas (2026, p. 18) proved that such generalized Brier numbers contain an infinite arithmetic progression for every base b>=2. In the construction, each of kb^n+1 and kb^n-1 has at least two distinct prime factors.


See also

Riesel Number, Sierpiński Number of the Second Kind

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References

Clavier, C. "14 New Brier Numbers." Jan. 2, 2014. https://oeis.org/A076335/a076335.txt.Gallot, Y. "A Search for Some Small Brier Numbers." https://web.archive.org/web/20050401013816/http://perso.wanadoo.fr:80/yves.gallot/papers/smallbrier.html.McLean, J. "Brier Numbers." https://irvinemclean.com/maths/brier2.htm.Rivera, C. "Problems & Puzzles: Problem 029.-Brier Numbers." https://www.primepuzzles.net/problems/prob_029.htm.Sloane, N. J. A. Sequence A076335 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences."Virbalas, P. "On the Generalized Sierpiński and Riesel Numbers." Boletín de Matemáticas 33, 16-26, 2026. https://doi.org/10.15446/bol.mat.v33n1.125921. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05149.

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Brier Number

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Brier Number." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/BrierNumber.html

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