The Pell numbers are the numbers obtained by the 
s in the Lucas sequence
with 
and 
. They correspond to the Pell
polynomial 
.
Similarly, the Pell-Lucas numbers are the 
s in the Lucas sequence
with 
and 
, and correspond to the Pell-Lucas
polynomial 
.
The Pell numbers and Pell-Lucas numbers are also equal to
 |  |  |
(1)
|
 |  |  |
(2)
|
where 
is a Fibonacci polynomial.
The Pell and Pell-Lucas numbers satisfy the recurrence relation
 |
(3)
|
with initial conditions 
and 
for the Pell numbers and 
for the Pell-Lucas numbers.
The 
th Pell and Pell-Lucas numbers are explicitly
given by the Binet-type formulas
 |  |  |
(4)
|
 |  |  |
(5)
|
The 
th Pell and Pell-Lucas numbers are given
by the binomial sums
 |  |  |
(6)
|
 |  |  |
(7)
|
respectively.
The Pell and Pell-Lucas numbers satisfy the identities
 |  |  |
(8)
|
 |  |  |
(9)
|
 |  |  |
(10)
|
and
 |  | ![4[2P_n^2+(-1)^n]](/images/equations/PellNumber/Inline44.svg) |
(11)
|
 |  |  |
(12)
|
For 
, 1, ..., the Pell numbers are 0, 1,
2, 5, 12, 29, 70, 169, 408, 985, 2378, ... (OEIS A000129).
For a Pell number 
to be prime, it is necessary that 
be prime. The indices of (probable) prime Pell numbers are
2, 3, 5, 11, 13, 29, 41, 53, 59, 89, 97, 101, 167, 181, 191, 523, 929, 1217, 1301,
1361, 2087, 2273, 2393, 8093, 13339, 14033, 23747, 28183, 34429, 36749, 90197, ...
(OEIS A096650), with no others less than 
(E. W. Weisstein, Mar. 21,
2009). The largest proven prime has index 13339 and 5106 digits (http://primes.utm.edu/primes/page.php?id=24572),
whereas the largest known probable prime has index 90197 and 34525 digits (T. D. Noe,
Sep. 2004).
For 
, 1, ..., the Pell-Lucas numbers are
2, 2, 6, 14, 34, 82, 198, 478, 1154, 2786, 6726, ... (OEIS A002203).
As can be seen, they are always even.
For a Pell-Lucas number 
to be prime, it is necessary that 
be either prime or a power of 2. The indices of 
that are (probable) primes are 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 16, 19,
29, 47, 59, 163, 257, 421, 937, 947, 1493, 1901, 6689, 8087, 9679, 28753, 79043,
129127, 145969, 165799, 168677, 170413, 172243, 278321, ... (OEIS A099088).
The largest proven prime has index 9679 and 3705 decimal digits (http://primes.utm.edu/primes/page.php?id=27783).
These indices 
are a superset via 
of the indices 
of prime NSW numbers. The following table summarizes
the largest known Pell-Lucas (probable) primes.
 | decimal digits | discoverer | date |
 |  | E. W. Weisstein | May 19, 2006 |
 |  | E. W. Weisstein | Aug. 29, 2006 |
 |  | E. W. Weisstein | Nov. 16, 2006 |
 |  | E. W. Weisstein | Nov. 26, 2006 |
 |  | E. W. Weisstein | Dec. 10, 2006 |
 |  | E. W. Weisstein | Jan. 15, 2007 |
 |  | R. Price | Dec. 7, 2018 |
The only triangular Pell number is 1 (McDaniel 1996).
