A Wieferich prime is a Prime which is a solution to the Congruence equation
If the first case of Fermat's Last Theorem is false for exponent , then must be a Wieferich prime (Wieferich 1909). If with and Relatively Prime, then is a Wieferich prime Iff also divides . The Conjecture that there are no three Powerful Numbers implies that there are infinitely many Wieferich primes (Granville 1986, Vardi 1991). In addition, the abc Conjecture implies that there are at least Wieferich primes for some constant (Silverman 1988, Vardi 1991).
See also abc Conjecture, Fermat's Last Theorem, Fermat Quotient, Mersenne Number, Mirimanoff's Congruence, Powerful Number
References
Brillhart, J.; Tonascia, J.; and Winberger, P. ``On the Fermat Quotient.'' In Computers and Number Theory
(Ed. A. O. L. Atkin and B. J. Birch). New York: Academic Press, pp. 213-222, 1971.
Crandall, R. Projects in Scientific Computation. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1986.
Crandall, R.; Dilcher, K; and Pomerance, C. ``A search for Wieferich and Wilson Primes.'' Math. Comput. 66, 433-449, 1997.
Granville, A. ``Powerful Numbers and Fermat's Last Theorem.'' C. R. Math. Rep. Acad. Sci. Canada 8, 215-218, 1986.
Lehmer, D. H. ``On Fermat's Quotient, Base Two.'' Math. Comput. 36, 289-290, 1981.
Ribenboim, P. ``Wieferich Primes.'' §5.3 in The New Book of Prime Number Records.
New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 333-346, 1996.
Shanks, D. Solved and Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, 4th ed. New York: Chelsea, pp. 116 and 157, 1993.
Silverman, J. ``Wieferich's Criterion and the abc Conjecture.'' J. Number Th. 30, 226-237, 1988.
Vardi, I. ``Wieferich.'' §5.4 in Computational Recreations in Mathematica.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 59-62 and 96-103, 1991.
Wieferich, A. ``Zum letzten Fermat'schen Theorem.'' J. reine angew. Math. 136, 293-302, 1909.
© 1996-9 Eric W. Weisstein