A Prime Game:

Write down a multidigit prime number (i.e. a prime number > 10), and I can always strike out 0 or more digits to get a prime in this list:

{11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 227, 251, 257, 277, 281, 349, 409, 449, 499, 521, 557, 577, 587, 727, 757, 787, 821, 827, 857, 877, 881, 887, 991, 2087, 2221, 5051, 5081, 5501, 5581, 5801, 5851, 6469, 6949, 8501, 9001, 9049, 9221, 9551, 9649, 9851, 9949, 20021, 20201, 50207, 60649, 80051, 666649, 946669, 5200007, 22000001, 60000049, 66000049, 66600049, 80555551, 555555555551, 5000000000000000000000000000027}

e.g.

Write down the prime 149 → I can delete the digit 4, to get the prime 19

Write down the prime 439 → I can delete the digit 9, to get the prime 43

Write down the prime 857 → I can delete zero digits, to get the prime 857

Write down the prime 2081 → I can delete the digit 0, to get the prime 281

Write down the largest known double Mersenne prime 170141183460469231731687303715884105727 (2¹²⁷−1) → I can delete all digits except the third-leftmost 1 and the second-rightmost 3, to get the prime 13

Write down the largest known Fermat prime 65537 → I can delete the 6 and the 3, to get the prime 557 (also I can choose to delete the 6 and two 5's, to get the prime 37) (also I can choose to delete two 5's and the 3, to get the prime 67) (also I can choose to delete the 6, one 5, and the 7, to get the prime 53)

Write down the famous repunit prime 1111111111111111111 (with 19 1's) → I can delete 17 1's, to get the prime 11

Write down the prime 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007 (which is the next prime after 10⁶⁰) → I can delete all 0's, to get the prime 17

Write down the prime 95801 → I can delete the 9, to get the prime 5801

Write down the prime 946969 → I can delete the first 9 and two 6's, to get the prime 499

Write down the prime 90000000581 → I can delete five 0's, the 5, and the 8, to get the prime 9001

Write down the prime 8555555555555555555551 → I can delete the 8 and nine 5's, to get the prime 555555555551

Now we extend this prime game to bases other than 10.

The minimal elements (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_element) (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/MaximalElement.html for maximal element, the dual of minimal element, unfortunely there is no article "minimal element" in mathworld, a minimal element of a set under a partial ordering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partially_ordered_set, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PartialOrder.html) binary relation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_relation, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/BinaryRelation.html) is a maximal element of the same set under its converse relation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converse_relation), a converse relation of a partial ordering relation must also be a partial ordering relation) of the prime numbers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/Prime.html, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Prime, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeNumber.html) which are > b written in the positional numeral system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positional_numeral_system) with radix (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/Radix.html, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Base) b, as digit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_digit, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Digit, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Digit.html) strings (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_(computer_science), https://mathworld.wolfram.com/String.html) with subsequence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsequence, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Subsequence.html) ordering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partially_ordered_set, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PartialOrder.html), for 2 ≤ b ≤ 36 (I stop at base 36 since this base is a maximum base for which it is possible to write the numbers with the symbols 0, 1, ..., 9 and A, B, ..., Z), using A−Z to represent digit values 10 to 35.

By the theorem that there are no infinite (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_set, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/Infinite.html, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/InfiniteSet.html) antichains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichain, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Antichain.html) (i.e. a subset of a partially ordered set such that any two distinct elements in the subset are incomparable (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparability, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ComparableElements.html)) for the subsequence ordering, there must be only finitely such minimal elements in every base b.

This problem is an extension of the original minimal prime problem (https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~cbright/reports/mepn.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_17.pdf), https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/Papers/br10.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_18.pdf), https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~cbright/talks/minimal-slides.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_19.pdf), https://doi.org/10.1080/10586458.2015.1064048 (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_20.pdf), https://scholar.colorado.edu/downloads/hh63sw661 (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_16.pdf), https://github.com/curtisbright/mepn-data, https://github.com/curtisbright/mepn, https://github.com/RaymondDevillers/primes) to cover Conjectures ‘R Us Sierpinski/Riesel conjectures base b (http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/Sierp-conjectures.htm, http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/Sierp-conjectures-powers2.htm, http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/Riesel-conjectures.htm, http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/Riesel-conjectures-powers2.htm) with k-values < b, i.e. finding the smallest prime of the form k×bⁿ+1 and k×bⁿ−1 (or proving that such prime does not exist) for all k < b (also to cover dual (http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/EMIS/journals/INTEGERS/papers/i61/i61.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_1.pdf), https://www.rechenkraft.net/wiki/Five_or_Bust, https://oeis.org/A076336/a076336c.html, http://www.mit.edu/~kenta/three/prime/dual-sierpinski/ezgxggdm/dualsierp-excerpt.txt, https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=10761, https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=6545) Sierpinski/Riesel conjectures base b with k-values < b, i.e. finding the smallest prime of the form bⁿ+k and bⁿ−k (which are the dual forms of k×bⁿ+1 and k×bⁿ−1, respectively) (or proving that such prime does not exist) for all k < b) (also to cover finding the smallest prime of some classic forms (or proving that such prime does not exist), such as bⁿ+2, bⁿ−2, bⁿ+(b−1), bⁿ−(b−1), 2×bⁿ+1, 2×bⁿ−1, (b−1)×bⁿ+1, (b−1)×bⁿ−1, for the same base b). The original minimal prime base b problem does not cover Conjectures ‘R Us Sierpinski/Riesel conjectures base b with conjectured k (http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/tab/CRUS_tab.htm, http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/vstats/all_ck_sierpinski.txt, http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/vstats/all_ck_riesel.txt) < b, since in Riesel side, the prime is not minimal prime in original definition if either k−1 or b−1 (or both) is prime, and in Sierpinski side, the prime is not minimal prime in original definition if k is prime (e.g. 25×30³⁴²⁰⁵−1 is not minimal prime in base 30 in original definition, since it is OT₃₄₂₀₅ in base 30, and T (= 29 in decimal) is prime, but it is minimal prime in base 30 if only primes > base are counted), but this extended version of minimal prime base b problem does.

However, including the base (b) itself results in automatic elimination of all possible extension numbers with "0 after 1" from the set (when the base is prime, if the base is composite, then there is no difference to include the base (b) itself or not), which is quite restrictive (since when the base is prime, then the base (b) itself is the only prime ending with 0, i.e. having trailing zero (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailing_zero), since in any base, all numbers ending with 0 (i.e. having trailing zero) are divisible by the base (b), thus cannot be prime unless it is equal the base (b), i.e. "10" in base b, note that the numbers cannot have leading zero (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_zero), since typically this is not the way we write numbers (in any base), thus for all primes in our sets (i.e. all primes > base (b)), all zero digits must be "between" other digits).

Besides, this problem is better than the original minimal prime problem since this problem is regardless whether 1 is considered as prime or not, i.e. no matter 1 is considered as prime or not prime (https://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/one.html, https://primefan.tripod.com/Prime1ProCon.html, https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/journals/JIS/VOL15/Caldwell2/cald6.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_24.pdf), http://www.numericana.com/answer/numbers.htm#one), the sets in this problem are the same, while the sets in the original minimal prime problem are different, e.g. in base 10, if 1 is considered as prime, then the set in the original minimal prime problem is {1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 89, 409, 449, 499, 6469, 6949, 9049, 9649, 9949, 60649, 666649, 946669, 60000049, 66000049, 66600049}, while if 1 is not considered as prime, then the set in the original minimal prime problem is {2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 19, 41, 61, 89, 409, 449, 499, 881, 991, 6469, 6949, 9001, 9049, 9649, 9949, 60649, 666649, 946669, 60000049, 66000049, 66600049}, however, in base 10, the set in this problem is always {11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 227, 251, 257, 277, 281, 349, 409, 449, 499, 521, 557, 577, 587, 727, 757, 787, 821, 827, 857, 877, 881, 887, 991, 2087, 2221, 5051, 5081, 5501, 5581, 5801, 5851, 6469, 6949, 8501, 9001, 9049, 9221, 9551, 9649, 9851, 9949, 20021, 20201, 50207, 60649, 80051, 666649, 946669, 5200007, 22000001, 60000049, 66000049, 66600049, 80555551, 555555555551, 5000000000000000000000000000027}, no matter 1 is considered as prime or not prime.

The third reason for excluding the primes ≤ b is that starting with b+1 makes the formula of the number of possible (first digit,last digit) combo of a minimal prime in base b more simple and smooth number (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_number, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SmoothNumber.html), it is (b−1)×eulerphi(b) (https://oeis.org/A062955), where eulerphi is Euler's totient function (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_totient_function, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/EulersPhi.html, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/TotientFunction.html, https://oeis.org/A000010), since b−1 is the number of possible first digit (except 0, all digits can be first digit), and eulerphi(b) is the number of possible last digit (only digits coprime to b can be last digit), by rule of product, there are (b−1)×eulerphi(b) possible (first digit,last digit) combo, and if start with b, then when b is prime, there is an additional possible (first digit,last digit) combo: (1,0), and hence the formula will be (b−1)×eulerphi(b)+1 if b is prime, or (b−1)×eulerphi(b) if b is composite (the fully formula will be (b−1)×eulerphi(b)+isprime(b) or (b−1)×eulerphi(b)+floor((b−eulerphi(b)) / (b−1))), which is more complex, and if start with 1 (i.e. the original minimal prime problem), the formula is much more complex.

This problem covers finding the smallest prime of these forms in the same base b (or proving that such prime does not exist): (while the original minimal prime problem does not cover some of these forms for some bases (or all bases) b)

(bⁿ−1)/(b−1) with n ≥ 2 (see http://www.fermatquotient.com/PrimSerien/GenRepu.txt, https://archive.ph/tf7jx, http://www.primenumbers.net/Henri/us/MersFermus.htm, https://www.ams.org/journals/mcom/1993-61-204/S0025-5718-1993-1185243-9/S0025-5718-1993-1185243-9.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_4.pdf), https://oeis.org/A084740, https://oeis.org/A084738, https://oeis.org/A065854, https://oeis.org/A279068, https://oeis.org/A128164, https://oeis.org/A285642)

bⁿ+1 with n ≥ 1 (see http://jeppesn.dk/generalized-fermat.html, http://www.noprimeleftbehind.net/crus/GFN-primes.htm, http://yves.gallot.pagesperso-orange.fr/primes/index.html, http://yves.gallot.pagesperso-orange.fr/primes/results.html, http://yves.gallot.pagesperso-orange.fr/primes/stat.html, https://oeis.org/A228101, https://oeis.org/A079706, https://oeis.org/A084712, https://oeis.org/A123669)

(bⁿ+1)/2 (for odd b) with n ≥ 2 (see http://www.fermatquotient.com/PrimSerien/GenFermOdd.txt)

2×bⁿ+1 with n ≥ 1 (see https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=6918, https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=19725, https://oeis.org/A119624, https://oeis.org/A253178, https://oeis.org/A098872)

2×bⁿ−1 with n ≥ 1 (see https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=24576, https://www.mersenneforum.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20976&d=1567314217, https://oeis.org/A119591, https://oeis.org/A098873)

bⁿ+2 with n ≥ 1 (see https://oeis.org/A138066, https://oeis.org/A084713, https://oeis.org/A138067)

bⁿ−2 with n ≥ 2 (see https://www.primepuzzles.net/puzzles/puzz_887.htm, https://oeis.org/A250200, https://oeis.org/A255707, https://oeis.org/A084714, https://oeis.org/A292201)

(b−1)×bⁿ+1 with n ≥ 1 (see https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Williams_prime_MP_least, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Williams_prime_MP_table, https://sites.google.com/view/williams-primes, http://www.bitman.name/math/table/477, https://oeis.org/A305531, https://oeis.org/A087139)

(b−1)×bⁿ−1 with n ≥ 1 (see https://harvey563.tripod.com/wills.txt, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Williams_prime_MM_least, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Williams_prime_MM_table, https://sites.google.com/view/williams-primes, http://matwbn.icm.edu.pl/ksiazki/aa/aa39/aa3912.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_9.pdf), https://www.ams.org/journals/mcom/2000-69-232/S0025-5718-00-01212-6/S0025-5718-00-01212-6.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_10.pdf), http://www.bitman.name/math/table/484, https://oeis.org/A122396)

bⁿ+(b−1) with n ≥ 1 (see https://sites.google.com/view/williams-primes, https://oeis.org/A076845, https://oeis.org/A076846, https://oeis.org/A078178, https://oeis.org/A078179)

bⁿ−(b−1) with n ≥ 2 (see https://sites.google.com/view/williams-primes, https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/journals/JIS/VOL3/mccranie.html, http://www.bitman.name/math/table/435, https://oeis.org/A113516, https://oeis.org/A343589)

k×bⁿ+1 for all k ≤ 12 with n ≥ 1 (see https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Proth_prime_small_bases_least_n, https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=10354)

k×bⁿ−1 for all k ≤ 12 with n ≥ 1 (see https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Riesel_prime_small_bases_least_n, https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=10354)

(below (as well as the "left b" files), family "12{3}45" means sequence {1245, 12345, 123345, 1233345, 12333345, 123333345, ...}, where the members are expressed as base b strings, like the numbers in https://stdkmd.net/nrr/aaaab.htm, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/abbbb.htm, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/aaaba.htm, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/abaaa.htm, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/abbba.htm, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/abbbc.htm, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/prime/primecount.txt, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/prime/primedifficulty.txt, e.g. 1{3} (in decimal) is the numbers in https://stdkmd.net/nrr/1/13333.htm, and {1}3 (in decimal) is the numbers in https://stdkmd.net/nrr/1/11113.htm)

In fact, this problem covers finding the smallest prime of these form in the same base b: (where x, y, z are any digits in base b)

x{0}y

x{y} (unless y = 1) (see https://stdkmd.net/nrr/abbbb.htm)

{x}y (unless x = 1) (see https://stdkmd.net/nrr/aaaab.htm)

x{0}yz (unless there is a prime of the form x{0}y or x{0}z)

xy{0}z (unless there is a prime of the form x{0}z or y{0}z)

xy{x} (unless either x = 1 or there is a prime of the form y{x} (or both)) (see https://stdkmd.net/nrr/abaaa.htm)

{x}yx (unless either x = 1 or there is a prime of the form {x}y (or both)) (see https://stdkmd.net/nrr/aaaba.htm)

Some x{y}z (where x and z are strings (may be empty) of digits in base b, y is a digit in base b) families can be proven to contain no primes > b, by covering congruence (http://irvinemclean.com/maths/siercvr.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covering_set, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SierpinskisCompositeNumberTheorem.html), algebraic factorization (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorization_of_polynomials, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PolynomialFactorization.html), or combine of them, e.g. (only list the families which all numbers do not contain "prime > b" subsequence) (see post https://mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=594923&postcount=231 for the factor pattern for some of these families) (for the case of covering congruence, we can show that the corresponding numbers are > all elements in the sets if the corresponding numbers are > b, thus these factorizations are nontrivial; and for the case of algebraic factorization, we can show that both factors are > 1 if the corresponding numbers are > b, thus these factorizations are nontrivial; for the case of combine of them, we can show that for the part of covering congruence, the corresponding numbers are > all elements in the sets if the corresponding numbers are > b, and for the part of algebraic factorization, both factors are > 1 if the corresponding numbers are > b, thus these factorizations are nontrivial)

Also families which contain only one very small prime > b:

Some x{y}z (where x and z are strings (may be empty) of digits in base b, y is a digit in base b) families could not be proven to contain no primes > b (by covering congruence, algebraic factorization, or combine of them) but no primes > b could be found in the family, even after searching through numbers with over 50000 digits. In such a case, the only way to proceed is to test the primality of larger and larger numbers of such form and hope a prime is eventually discovered.

Many x{y}z (where x and z are strings (may be empty) of digits in base b, y is a digit in base b) families contain no small primes > b even though they do contain very large primes. e.g. the smallest prime in the base 23 family 9{E} is 9E₈₀₀₈₇₃ which when written in decimal contains 1090573 digits (technically, probable primality tests were used to show this (which have a very small chance of making an error (https://primes.utm.edu/notes/prp_prob.html, https://www.ams.org/journals/mcom/1989-53-188/S0025-5718-1989-0982368-4/S0025-5718-1989-0982368-4.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_22.pdf))) because all known primality tests (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primality_test, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Primality_test, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimalityTest.html) run far too slowly to run on a number of this size unless either N−1 (https://primes.utm.edu/prove/prove3_1.html) or N+1 (https://primes.utm.edu/prove/prove3_2.html) (or both) (unfortunely, none of Wikipedia, Prime Wiki, Mathworld has article for N−1 primality test or N+1 primality test, but a similar article for Pocklington primality test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocklington_primality_test, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Pocklington%27s_theorem, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PocklingtonsTheorem.html, also see the article for the cyclotomy primality test: https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/Cyclotomy.html) can be ≥ 1/4 factored (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_factorization, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Factorization, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeFactorizationAlgorithms.html), see the article http://www.ams.org/journals/mcom/1975-29-130/S0025-5718-1975-0384673-1/S0025-5718-1975-0384673-1.pdf (cached copy at https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/pdf-files-cached-copy/blob/main/pdf_23.pdf) for the case that either N−1 or N+1 (or both) can be ≥ 1/3 factored, if either N−1 or N+1 (or both) can be ≥ 1/4 factored but neither can be ≥ 1/3 factored, then we need to use CHG (https://mersenneforum.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=21133&d=1571237465, https://primes.utm.edu/bios/page.php?id=797, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/CHG) to prove its primality (see https://mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=528149&postcount=3), for the examples of the numbers which are proven prime by CHG, see https://primes.utm.edu/primes/page.php?id=126454, https://primes.utm.edu/primes/page.php?id=131964, https://primes.utm.edu/primes/page.php?id=123456, https://primes.utm.edu/primes/page.php?id=130933, https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/1/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/2/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/3/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/4/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/5/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/6/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/7/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/8/ (search for "CHG"), https://stdkmd.net/nrr/cert/9/ (search for "CHG"), however, factordb (http://factordb.com/) lacks the ability to verify CHG proofs, see https://mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=608362&postcount=165)

The numbers in x{y}z (where x and z are strings (may be empty) of digits in base b, y is a digit in base b) families are of the form (a×bⁿ+c)/gcd(a+c,b−1) for some fixed a, b, c such that a ≥ 1, b ≥ 2 (b is the base), c ≠ 0, gcd(a,c) = 1, gcd(b,c) = 1. Except in the special case c = ±1 and gcd(a+c,b−1) = 1, when n is large the known primality tests for such a number are too inefficient to run. In this case one must resort to a probable primality test such as a Miller–Rabin primality test (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller%E2%80%93Rabin_primality_test, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/MillersTest.html, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Miller-Rabin_pseudoprimality_test, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Rabin-MillerStrongPseudoprimeTest.html) or a Baillie–PSW primality test (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baillie%E2%80%93PSW_primality_test, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Baillie-PSWPrimalityTest.html), unless a divisor of the number can be found. Since we are testing many numbers in an exponential sequence, it is possible to use a sieving process (https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Sieving, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Sieve.html) to find divisors rather than using trial division (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_division, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/TrialDivision.html, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Trial_factoring, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/TrialDivision.html).

To do this, we made use of Geoffrey Reynolds’ SRSIEVE software (https://www.bc-team.org/app.php/dlext/?cat=3, https://mersenneforum.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=16377&d=1499103807, https://archive.ph/XrJkw, http://www.rieselprime.de/dl/CRUS_pack.zip, https://primes.utm.edu/bios/page.php?id=905, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Srsieve, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/srsieve_1.1.4, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/sr1sieve_1.4.6, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/sr2sieve_2.0.0, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/srbsieve). This program uses the baby-step giant-step algorithm to find all primes p which divide a×bⁿ+c where p and n lie in a specified range (also, this program was updated so that it also removes the n such that a×bⁿ+c has algebraic factors (e.g. difference-of-squares factorization, sum/difference-of-cubes factorization, Aurifeuillian factorization (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurifeuillean_factorization, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Aurifeuillian_factor, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/AurifeuilleanFactorization.html) of x⁴+4×y⁴), see https://mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=452132&postcount=66 and https://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=21916). Since this program cannot handle the general case (a×bⁿ+c)/gcd(a+c,b−1) when gcd(a+c,b−1) > 1 we only used it to sieve the sequence a×bⁿ+c for primes p not dividing gcd(a+c,b−1), and initialized the list of candidates to not include n for which there is some prime p dividing gcd(a+c,b−1) for which p dividing (a×bⁿ+c)/gcd(a+c,b−1). The program had to be modified slightly to remove a check which would prevent it from running in the case when a, b, and c were all odd (since then 2 divides a×bⁿ+c, but 2 may not divide (a×bⁿ+c)/gcd(a+c,b−1)) (see https://github.com/curtisbright/mepn-data/commit/1b55b353f46c707bbe52897573914128b3303960).

Once the numbers with small divisors had been removed, it remained to test the remaining numbers using a probable primality test. For this we used the software LLR by Jean Penn´e (http://jpenne.free.fr/index2.html, https://primes.utm.edu/bios/page.php?id=431, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/LLR, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/cllr403win64) or PFGW (https://sourceforge.net/projects/openpfgw/, https://primes.utm.edu/bios/page.php?id=175, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/PFGW, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/pfgw_win_4.0.3). Although undocumented, it is possible to run these two programs on numbers of the form (a×bⁿ+c)/gcd(a+c,b−1) when gcd(a+c,b−1) > 1, so this program required no modifications. A script was also written which allowed one to run srsieve while LLR or PFGW was testing the remaining candidates, so that when a divisor was found by srsieve on a number which had not yet been tested by LLR or PFGW it would be removed from the list of candidates.

For the primes < 10²⁵⁰⁰⁰ for the solved or near-solved bases (bases b with ≤ 3 unsolved families, i.e. bases b = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 30), we employed PRIMO by Marcel Martin (http://www.ellipsa.eu/public/primo/primo.html, http://www.rieselprime.de/dl/Primo309.zip, https://primes.utm.edu/bios/page.php?id=46, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Primo, https://github.com/xayahrainie4793/Prime-program-cached-copy/tree/main/primo-433-lx64), an elliptic curve primality proving (https://primes.utm.edu/prove/prove4_2.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_curve_primality, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/ECPP.html, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/EllipticCurvePrimalityProving.html) implementation.

We have completely solved this problem for bases b = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 24 (thus, currently we can complete the classification of the minimal primes in these bases), also we have completely solved this problem for bases b = 11, 16, 22, 30 if we allow probable primes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probable_prime, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/PRP.html, https://www.rieselprime.de/ziki/Probable_prime, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ProbablePrime.html) > 10²⁵⁰⁰⁰ in place of proven primes, besides, we have completely solved this problem for bases b = 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 36 (if we allow strong probable primes in place of proven primes) except the families listed in the "left b" files (see the condensed table below for the searching limit of these families).

We are unable to determine if these families contain a prime (only count the numbers > base (b)) or not, i.e. these families have no known prime members, nor can they be ruled out as only containing composites, and all of these families are excepted to contain primes.

For base 17, the smallest prime in family {B}2BE may or may not be minimal prime, since another unsolved family is {B}2E.

For base 19, the smallest prime in family {2}7A may or may not be minimal prime, since another unsolved family is {2}7, and the smallest prime in family 333{5} may or may not be minimal prime, since another unsolved family is 3{5}, and the smallest prime in family 5{H}05 may or may not be minimal prime, since another unsolved family is 5{H}5, and the smallest prime in family FHHH0{H} may or may not be minimal prime, since another unsolved family is FH0{H}.

For base 21, the smallest prime in families {9}0D and F{9}D may or may not be minimal primes, since another unsolved family is {9}D, and the smallest prime in family DH{D} may or may not be minimal prime, since another unsolved family is H{D}.

There are also unproven probable primes (however, in this project our results assume that they are in fact primes, since they are > 10²⁵⁰⁰⁰ and the probability that they are in fact composite is < 10⁻²⁰⁰⁰, see https://primes.utm.edu/notes/prp_prob.html), the unproven probable primes for bases b = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 30 are:

All these numbers are strong probable primes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_pseudoprime, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/StrongPRP.html, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/StrongPseudoprime.html) to bases 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61 (see https://oeis.org/A014233), and strong Lucas probable primes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_pseudoprime#Strong_Lucas_pseudoprimes, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/StrongLucasPseudoprime.html) with parameters (P, Q) defined by Selfridge's Method A (see https://oeis.org/A217255), and trial factored to 10¹⁶ (thus, all these numbers are Baillie–PSW probable primes.

Primality certificates (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primality_certificate, https://primes.utm.edu/glossary/xpage/Certificate.html, https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimalityCertificate.html) for large proven primes (> 10³⁰⁰) for bases b = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 30:

Condensed table for bases 2 ≤ b ≤ 36: (the bases b = 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21~23, 25~36 data assumes the primality of the probable primes) (This data assumes that a number > 10²⁵⁰⁰⁰ which has passed the Miller–Rabin primality tests to all prime bases p < 64 and has passed the Baillie–PSW primality test and has trial factored to 2⁶⁴ is in fact prime, since in some cases (e.g. b = 11) a candidate for minimal prime base b is too large to be proven prime rigorously)

Related links:

https://primes.utm.edu/primes/lists/all.txt (top definitely primes)

https://primes.utm.edu/primes/lists/short.txt (definitely primes with ≥ 800000 decimal digits)

https://primes.utm.edu/primes/download.php (index page of top definitely primes)

https://primes.utm.edu/primes/search.php (search page of top definitely primes)

https://primes.utm.edu/primes/search.php?Advanced=1 (advanced search page of top definitely primes)

https://primes.utm.edu/primes/search_proth.php (search page of top definitely primes of the form k×bⁿ±1)

http://www.primenumbers.net/prptop/prptop.php (top probable primes)

http://www.primenumbers.net/prptop/searchform.php (search page of top probable primes)

Tools about this research: (in fact, you can also use Wolfram Alpha (https://www.wolframalpha.com/) or online Magma calculator (http://magma.maths.usyd.edu.au/calc/))

Prime checkers:

1. https://primes.utm.edu/curios/includes/primetest.php
2. https://www.numberempire.com/primenumbers.php
3. http://www.numbertheory.org/php/lucas.html
4. http://www.javascripter.net/math/calculators/100digitbigintcalculator.htm (just type x and click "prime?")
5. https://www.bigprimes.net/primalitytest
6. http://www.proftnj.com/calcprem.htm
7. https://www.archimedes-lab.org/primOmatic.html
8. http://www.sonic.net/~undoc/java/PrimeCalc.html

Integer factorizers:

1. https://www.numberempire.com/numberfactorizer.php
2. https://www.alpertron.com.ar/ECM.HTM
3. http://www.javascripter.net/math/calculators/primefactorscalculator.htm
4. https://betaprojects.com/calculators/prime_factors.html
5. https://www.emathhelp.net/calculators/pre-algebra/prime-factorization-calculator/
6. http://www.numbertheory.org/php/factor.html
7. https://primefan.tripod.com/Factorer.html
8. http://www.se16.info/js/factor.htm
9. http://math.fau.edu/Richman/mla/factor-f.htm

Base converters:

1. https://baseconvert.com/
2. https://www.calculand.com/unit-converter/zahlen.php
3. https://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Algorithms/BaseConversion.shtml
4. http://www.tonymarston.net/php-mysql/converter.html
5. http://www.kwuntung.net/hkunit/base/base.php (in Chinese)
6. https://linesegment.web.fc2.com/application/math/numbers/RadixConversion.html (in Japanese)

List of small primes:

1. https://primes.utm.edu/lists/small/1000.txt
2. https://primes.utm.edu/lists/small/10000.txt
3. https://primes.utm.edu/lists/small/100000.txt
4. https://primes.utm.edu/lists/small/millions/
5. https://oeis.org/A000040/a000040.txt
6. https://oeis.org/A000040/b000040_1.txt
7. https://oeis.org/A000040/a000040_1B.7z
8. https://metanumbers.com/prime-numbers
9. https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/icon/oddsends/primes.htm
10. http://noe-education.org/D11102.php (in French)
11. https://archive.ph/dFHCI (in Italian)
12. https://primefan.tripod.com/500Primes1.html
13. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65/65.txt
14. http://www.primos.mat.br/indexen.html
15. https://www.walter-fendt.de/html5/men/primenumbers_en.htm
16. http://www.rsok.com/~jrm/printprimes.html
17. https://jocelyn.quizz.chat/np/cache/index.html
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prime_numbers#The_first_1000_prime_numbers

Lists of factorizations of small integers:

1. http://primefan.tripod.com/500factored.html
2. http://www.sosmath.com/tables/factor/factor.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_prime_factors

Lists of small integers in various bases:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_bases

For the files in this page:

File "kernel b": Data for all known minimal primes in base b, expressed as base b strings

File "left b": x{y}z (where x and z are strings (may be empty) of digits in base b, y is a digit in base b) families in base b such that we were unable to determine if they contain a prime > b or not (i.e. x{y}z (where x and z are strings (may be empty) of digits in base b, y is a digit in base b) families in base b such that no prime member > b could be found, nor could the family be ruled out as only containing composites (only count the numbers > b)), these families are sorted by "the length n number in these families, from the smallest number to the largest number, this n is large enough such that n replaced to any larger number does not affect the sorting" (e.g. for base 17, we sort with B{0}B3 -> B{0}DB -> {B}2BE -> {B}2E -> {B}E9 -> {B}EE, since in this case 7 digits is enough, B0000B3 < B0000DB < BBBB2BE < BBBBB2E < BBBBBE9 < BBBBBEE, if the 7 replaced to any larger number, this sorting will not change)

See my article about this research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQct6Hx-IkJd5-iIuDuOKkKdw2teGmmHW-P75MPaxqBXB37u0odFBml5rx0PoLa0odTyuW67N_vn96J/pub