a mersenne prime must be reducible to the form 2 n 1 where n is a prime number the first few known values of n that produce mersenne primes are where n 2 n 3 n 5 n 7 n 13 n 17 n 19 n 31 n 61 and n 89 prime number is a whole number greater than 1 whose only two whole number factors are 1 and itself the first few prime numbers are 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 and 29 as we proceed in the set of natural numbers n 1 2 3 the primes become less and less frequent in general