Mathematics
Perfect Numbers and Mersenne Primes
Quick fact
Every even perfect number is completely determined by a Mersenne prime, and the largest known perfect numbers are among the largest numbers in existence—each new one found corresponds to a brand-new Mersenne prime.
Why this is interesting
You know that 6 = 1 + 2 + 3, but did you know that this simple equality ties into the largest prime numbers ever discovered?