Mersenne primes
= Mersenne primes
{wiki=Mersenne_primes}
Mersenne primes are a special class of prime numbers that can be expressed in the form \\( M_n = 2^n - 1 \\), where \\( n \\) is a positive integer. For a number of this form to be classified as a Mersenne prime, \\( n \\) itself must also be a prime number. The reason for this restriction is that if \\( n \\) is composite (i.e.