The story
Named after French theologian, philosopher, mathematician, and music theorist Marin Mersenne (1588–1648).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: A prime number which is one less than a power of two (i.e., is expressible in the form 2ⁿ-1; for example, 31=2⁵-1). Full definition →
Named after French theologian, philosopher, mathematician, and music theorist Marin Mersenne (1588–1648).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.