Perfect Numbers

There are different types of Numbers in the number system. Perfect Numbers are one of such types.  The perfect number is a positive number whose factors when added give back the number as answer. The factors of the numbers are less than the number.

Some examples of perfect numbers are given below:

1. The factors of number 6 are 1, 2 and 3.
    1 + 2+ 3 = 6
    So, 6 is a perfect number. 

2. The factors of 28 are 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14.
    1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28
    So, 28 is a perfect number.

There are others such as 496, 8128 and many higher numbers.

In a perfect number, the product of its even factor and prime factor gives the number itself. The perfect numbers are both even and odd. But there is a confusion that whether a odd perfect number really do exist. Mathematician found one but it gives an approximate answer.

The formula for finding even perfect number is given as,

2^(p-1) * (2^p-1) where ‘p’ is the Prime Numbers and 2 ^p -1 is also a prime number.
 

The perfect numbers were used in ancient cultures and religion of certain regions. The perfect number are also used in computer science or computer application as a coding problem and it finds ways in generating these numbers using computer coding in different computer languages.