[Math] Distinctive property of the primes 17 and 19

nt.number-theoryopen-problemsprime numbers

Consider the question whether it is true that a prime number $p$ divides
$1^1+2^2+3^3+….+(p-1)^{p-1}$ if and only if $p \in \{17,19\}$.

For the obvious heuristic reasons, for large $n$ one would expect there
to be roughly $\ln(\ln(n))$ such primes $p < n$, however it seems that presently
no examples other than 17 and 19 are known.

Is there a more efficient way of looking for examples than the brute force method of
testing the primes one-by-one?

Best Answer

exp(exp(3)) is about 5e8 and testing the primes up to that is probably feasible with a few days of computer abuse. I tested up to 1e5 in 6 minutes with a trivial, single-threaded Haskell script (no more p's found). I don't see any particular reason to think there are no more p's though. It would surprise me if searching didn't turn up another p.

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