Permutable prime

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Permutable prime

No. of known terms 20

Conjectured no.of terms Infinite

First terms 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 37, 79, 113, 199

Largest known term (10270343-1)/9

OEIS index A258706

A permutable prime, also known as anagrammatic prime, is a prime number which, in a

given base, can have its digits' positions switched through any permutation and still be a prime
number. H. E. Richert, who is supposed to be the first to study these primes, called them permutable
primes,[1] but later they were also called absolute primes.[2]
In base 10, all the permutable primes with fewer than 49,081 digits are known
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 31, 37, 71, 73, 79, 97, 113, 131, 199, 311, 337, 373, 733, 919, 991,
R19 (1111111111111111111), R23, R317, R1031, ... (sequence A003459 in the OEIS)
Of the above, there are 16 unique permutation sets, with smallest elements
2, 3, 5, 7, R2, 13, 17, 37, 79, 113, 199, 337, R19, R23, R317, R1031, ... (sequence A258706 in
the OEIS)

Note Rn = is a repunit, a number consisting only of n ones (in base 10). Any repunit
prime is a permutable prime with the above definition, but some definitions require at least
two distinct digits.[3]
All permutable primes of two or more digits are composed from the digits 1, 3, 7, 9, because
no prime number except 2 is even, and no prime number besides 5 is divisible by 5. It is
proven[4] that no permutable prime exists which contains three different of the four digits 1, 3,
7, 9, as well as that there exists no permutable prime composed of two or more of each of
two digits selected from 1, 3, 7, 9.
There is no n-digit permutable prime for 3 < n < 610175 which is not a repunit.[1] It
is conjectured that there are no non-repunit permutable primes other than those listed
above.
In base 2, only repunits can be permutable primes, because any 0 permuted to the ones
place results in an even number. Therefore, the base 2 permutable primes are the Mersenne
primes. The generalization can safely be made that for any positional number system,
permutable primes with more than one digit can only have digits that are coprime with
the radix of the number system. One-digit primes, meaning any prime below the radix, are
always trivially permutable.
In base 12, the smallest elements of the unique permutation sets of the permutable primes
with fewer than 9,739 digits are known (using inverted two and three for ten and eleven,
respectively)
2, 3, 5, 7, , R2, 15, 57, 5, R3, 117, 11, 555, R5, R17, R81, R91, R225, R255, R45, ...
There is no n-digit permutable prime in base 12 for 4 < n < 12144 which is not a repunit. It
is conjectured that there are no non-repunit permutable primes in base 12 other than
those listed above.
In base 10 and base 12, every permutable prime is a repunit or a near-repdigit, that is, it
is a permutation of the integer P(b, n, x, y) = xxxx...xxxyb (n digits, in base b)
where x and y are digits which is coprime to b. Besides, x and y must be also coprime
(since if there is a prime p divides both x and y, then p also divides the number), so
if x = y, then x = y = 1. (This is not true in all bases, but exceptions are rare and could be
finite in any given base; the only exceptions below 109 in bases up to 20 are: 13911,
36A11, 24713, 78A13, 29E19 (M. Fiorentini, 2015).)
Let P(b, n, x, y) be a permutable prime in base b and let p be a prime such that n p.
If b is a primitive root of p, and p does not divide x or |x - y|, then n is a multiple of p - 1.
(Since bis a primitive root mod p and p does not divide |x y|,
the p numbers xxxx...xxxy, xxxx...xxyx, xxxx...xyxx, ..., xxxx...xyxx...xxxx (only
the bp2 digit is y, others are all x), xxxx...yxxx...xxxx(only the bp1 digit is y, others are
all x), xxxx...xxxx (the repdigit with n xs) mod p are all different. That is, one is 0, another
is 1, another is 2, ..., the other is p 1. Thus, since the firstp 1 numbers are all primes,
the last number (the repdigit with n xs) must be divisible by p. Since p does not divide x,
so p must divide the repunit with n 1s. Since b is a primitive root mod p, the
multiplicative order of n mod p is p 1. Thus, n must be divisible by p 1)
Thus, if b = 10, the digits coprime to 10 are {1, 3, 7, 9}. Since 10 is a primitive root mod
7, so if n 7, then either 7 divides x (in this case, x = 7, since x {1, 3, 7, 9}) or |x y|
(in this case, x = y = 1, since x, y {1, 3, 7, 9}. That is, the prime is a repunit) or n is a
multiple of 7 1 = 6. Similarly, since 10 is a primitive root mod 17, so if n 17, then
either 17 divides x(not possible, since x {1, 3, 7, 9}) or |x y| (in this case, x = y = 1,
since x, y {1, 3, 7, 9}. That is, the prime is a repunit) or n is a multiple of 17 1 = 16.
Besides, 10 is also a primitive root mod 19, 23, 29, 47, 59, 61, 97, 109, 113, 131, 149,
167, 179, 181, 193, ..., so n 17 is very impossible (since for this primes p, if n p,
then n is divisible by p 1), and if 7 n < 17, then x = 7, or n is divisible by 6 (the only
possible n is 12). If b = 12, the digits coprime to 12 are {1, 5, 7, 11}. Since 12 is a
primitive root mod 5, so if n 5, then either 5 divides x (in this case, x = 5, since x {1,
5, 7, 11}) or |x y| (in this case, either x = y = 1 (That is, the prime is a repunit) or x =
1, y = 11 or x = 11, y = 1, since x, y {1, 5, 7, 11}.) orn is a multiple of 5 1 = 4.
Similarly, since 12 is a primitive root mod 7, so if n 7, then either 7 divides x (in this
case, x = 7, since x {1, 5, 7, 11}) or |x y| (in this case, x = y = 1, since x, y {1, 5, 7,
11}. That is, the prime is a repunit) or n is a multiple of 7 1 = 6. Similarly, since 12 is a
primitive root mod 17, so if n 17, then either 17 divides x (not possible, since x {1, 5,
7, 11}) or |x y| (in this case, x = y = 1, since x, y {1, 5, 7, 11}. That is, the prime is a
repunit) or n is a multiple of 17 1 = 16. Besides, 12 is also a primitive root mod 31, 41,
43, 53, 67, 101, 103, 113, 127, 137, 139, 149, 151, 163, 173, 197, ..., so n 17 is very
impossible (since for this primes p, if n p, then n is divisible by p 1), and if 7 n< 17,
then x = 7 (in this case, since 5 does not divide x or x y, so n must be divisible by 4)
or n is divisible by 6 (the only possible n is 12).
References
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Richert, Hans-Egon (1951). "On permutable primtall". Norsk
Matematiske Tiddskrift. 33: 5054. Zbl 0054.02305.
2. Jump up^ Bhargava, T.N.; Doyle, P.H. (1974). "On the existence of absolute
primes". Math. Mag. 47: 233. Zbl 0293.10006.

3. Jump up^ Chris Caldwell, The Prime Glossary: permutable prime at The Prime Pages.

4. Jump up^ A.W. Johnson, "Absolute primes," Mathematics Magazine 50 (1977), 100
103.