cp's OEIS Frontend

For k=1, these are the Fermat primes A019434. Is the set of generalized Fermat primes infinite? Conjecture that there are only a finite number of generalized Fermat primes for each value of k. See A077659, which shows that in cases such as k=11, there appear to be no primes. See A078901 for generalized Fermat numbers.

See A080131 for the conjectured number of primes for each k. See A080208 for the least k such that (k+1)^2^n + k^2^n is prime. The largest probable prime of this form discovered to date is the 10217-digit 312^2^12 + 311^2^12.

It can be shown that, like the Fermat numbers, two of these generalized Fermat numbers are coprime if they have the same base k. However, unlike the Fermat numbers (which are conjectured to be squarefree), these generalized Fermat numbers are not necessarily squarefree for k > 1. Riesel tabulates some prime factors of generalized Fermat numbers for k <= 5.

For k=1, these are the Fermat numbers A000215. See A078901 for the case m>1, which excludes the sum of consecutive squares. By Legendre's theorem (Riesel, p. 165), the prime factors of a generalized Fermat number are of the form 1 + f 2^(m+1) for some integer f.

It is unknown if this is a finite or infinite sequence. Can it ever have a prime value after a(1) = 17? It can be semiprime, as 371 = 7 * 53; 1589 = 7 * 227; 15943 = 107 * 149; 214315 = 5 * 42863; 2288431 = 23 * 99497; and 16389861 = 3 * 5463287.