Journal of Integer Sequences, Vol. 28 (2025), Article 25.4.7

Conjectures about Primes and Cyclic Numbers


Joel E. Cohen
The Rockefeller University
1230 York Avenue, Box 20
New York, NY 10065
USA

Abstract:

A positive integer n is defined to be cyclic if and only if every group of size n is cyclic. Equivalently, n is cyclic if and only if n is relatively prime to the number of positive integers less than n that are relatively prime to n. Because every prime number is cyclic, it is natural to ask whether a (proved or conjectured) property of primes extends to cyclic numbers. I review proved or conjectured properties of primes (including some new conjectures about primes) and propose analogous conjectures about cyclic numbers. Using the 28,488,167 cyclic numbers less than 108, I test the conjectures about cyclic numbers and disprove the cyclic analog of the second conjecture about primes of Hardy and Littlewood. Proofs or disproofs of the remaining conjectures are invited.


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(Concerned with sequences A000010 A000040 A000720 A002496 A003277 A014085 A050216 A050384 A061091 A349997.)


Received January 5 2025; revised versions received May 22 2025; June 12 2025. Published in Journal of Integer Sequences, August 7 2025.


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