Numbers Theory · Covering Sets

Calculador de covering sets
Sierpinski / Riesel / Brier

Enter an odd integer k and select the type. First, k is examined by testing the primality of k·2ⁿ ± 1 for n = 1 to 1000; if it survives, its minimal covering sets are sought.

k*2^n+/-1
k must be a positive and odd integer
Preparando…

Explanation of the CS-CalculadorV7.html

This page computes minimal covering sets (CS) for an input number (N), Sierpinski or Riesel or Brier (B), subject to the restrictions mentioned below.

Usage

  1. Enter number N.
  2. Select its type (S or R).
  3. Press Calcular.

The output (Results) includes

  1. The input number and type.
  2. The quantity of CSs found (if any).
  3. All the CS found:
    • a) The list of primes composing each CS
    • b) Its Size (quantity of primes in each CS)
    • c) M: Its Module = Least common multiple of the multiplicative modular orders of two for those primes.
    • d) P: The product of all the primes in each CS.
  4. The list of sizes of all the CS found.
  5. The execution time.

Here is one output example, over a Riesel, original by Emilia Gurisatti:

Número: 16107442173648029 (R)
Covering sets found: 4
Details: [{3,5,7,13,17,241}, 6, 24, 5592405]; [{3,5,7,13,19,37,73}, 7, 36, 70050435]; [{3,5,7,13,97,241,257}, 7, 48, 8200768485]; [{3,5,7,13,19,37,109}, 7, 36, 104595855]
Sizes: 6, 7, 7, 7
Time: 1.507 s

If you wish you can accumulate several independent results in the same box of results. But if you want to clean all the fields you can use the "Borrar" button.

If N is such that N*2^n+/-1 is prime for some n<1000 you get a message in such a sense, which means that N is not Sierpinski or Riesel. This is just a small early sieve to discard false integers S or R. But if the output is "Not CS found" it might be caused by the limitation of the algorithm.

If N is not odd your get a message in such a sense.

Code Restrictions

  1. N must be odd.
  2. Types limited to Sierpinski or Riesel or Brier numbers. If you introduce Brier numbers you must compute its two covering sets using twice this page: first as Sierpinski and second as Riesel
  3. The search for CS is restricted to combinations of the following twenty-five primes: {3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 31, 37, 41, 61, 73, 97, 109, 151, 181, 241, 257, 331, 433, 577, 631, 673, 1321, 61681}.
  4. CS sizes computed are limited to the Range: 6–13, being the first prime in them always and only the prime 3.
  5. M<=400.

These restrictions imposed to my CS-Calculator derive from my personal observations of:

  1. The 50 CSs reported at irvinemclean.com/maths/siernums.htm
  2. Analysis by my Python code, of 15,000 S and 15,000 R numbers in OEIS:
  3. The Multi-CS S & R numbers published by Emilia Gurisatti in:
  4. The Multi-CS S & R numbers provided by A. Wesolowski in: Prob 92 AW.txt
  5. The Catalogue of Brier integers, by W. Keller, prothsearch.com/Catalogue.txt

Regarding the limit for M as <=400, I can say that none of the 15,000 Sierpinski or the 15,000 Riesel reported in OEIS, exceeded that M limit imposed to the search for CS in my Code. The same I can say about the list of 144 Sierpinski reported by I. McLean in the link to his work above.

But... as with any publicly available tool, occasional errors may arise; notifications via email regarding any issues will be sincerely appreciated.

Use it with confidence and thank you for sharing in this mathematical exploration.

Notes

  1. A CS is "minimal" if all primes listed are necessary for the list to remain a Covering Set.
  2. The overall twenty-five-primes list used in the Combinatorial work coincides with all revised sources but is not guaranteed to cover all possible S or R or Brier numbers you may input. The aim is a light calculator, producing exhaustive results in no more than two minutes.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to ChatGPT, Copilot & Claude for assistance in building the Python script and converting it to JavaScript for this page.

Final responsibility for the project rests with the author.