Wilson Prime

A Wilson prime, named after English mathematician John Wilson, is a prime number p such that p2 divides (p − 1)! + 1, where "!" denotes the factorial function; compare this with Wilson's theorem, which states that every prime p divides (p − 1)! + 1.

The only known Wilson primes are 5, 13, and 563 (sequence A007540 in OEIS); if any others exist, they must be greater than 2×1013. It has been conjectured that infinitely many Wilson primes exist, and that the number of Wilson primes in an interval is about log(log(y)/log(x)).

Several computer searches have been done in the hope of finding new Wilson primes. The Ibercivis distributed computing project includes a search for Wilson primes. Another search is coordinated at the mersenneforum.

Read more about Wilson Prime:  Near-Wilson Primes

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