Dickson's conjecture
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In
number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
, a branch of mathematics, Dickson's conjecture is the conjecture stated by that for a finite set of linear forms , , ..., with , there are infinitely many positive integers for which they are all
prime A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
, unless there is a congruence condition preventing this . The case ''k'' = 1 is Dirichlet's theorem. Two other special cases are well-known conjectures: there are infinitely many
twin prime A twin prime is a prime number that is either 2 less or 2 more than another prime number—for example, either member of the twin prime pair or In other words, a twin prime is a prime that has a prime gap of two. Sometimes the term ''twin prime' ...
s (''n'' and 2 + ''n'' are primes), and there are infinitely many
Sophie Germain prime In number theory, a prime number ''p'' is a if 2''p'' + 1 is also prime. The number 2''p'' + 1 associated with a Sophie Germain prime is called a . For example, 11 is a Sophie Germain prime and 2 × 11 +&nbs ...
s (''n'' and 1 + 2''n'' are primes).


Generalized Dickson's conjecture

Given ''n'' polynomials with positive degrees and integer coefficients (''n'' can be any natural number) that each satisfy all three conditions in the Bunyakovsky conjecture, and for any prime ''p'' there is an integer ''x'' such that the values of all ''n'' polynomials at ''x'' are not divisible by ''p'', then there are infinitely many positive integers ''x'' such that all values of these ''n'' polynomials at ''x'' are prime. For example, if the conjecture is true then there are infinitely many positive integers ''x'' such that x^2+1, 3x-1, and x^2+x+41 are all prime. When all the polynomials have degree 1, this is the original Dickson's conjecture. This generalization is equivalent to the generalized Bunyakovsky conjecture and Schinzel's hypothesis H.


See also

*
Prime triplet In number theory, a prime triplet is a set of three prime numbers in which the smallest and largest of the three differ by 6. In particular, the sets must have the form or . With the exceptions of and , this is the closest possible grouping of ...
* Green–Tao theorem * First Hardy–Littlewood conjecture * Prime constellation * Primes in arithmetic progression


References

* * {{Prime number conjectures Conjectures about prime numbers Unsolved problems in number theory