Mersenne prime

A Mersenne prime is a type of prime number that is rare and can require a lot of computational power to find. The sequence was first published in 1536 and was studied by a Friar named Marin Mersenne. A Mersenne (prime) number is defined as "a prime number n whose value is one less than two to the power of n". Mersenne numbers are easily found when they are below around M25,000, but larger Mersenne numbers are found through distributing computing power using a special purpose primality test. The first Mersenne number are 3, 7, 31, and 127. The distribued computing project used to find these numbers is called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) and gives away 100 dollar cash prizes for finding these large undiscovered Mersenne numbers.