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Sphenic number

A sphenic number is a positive integer that is the product of three distinct prime factors. The Möbius function returns when passed any sphenic number.

Note that this definition is more stringent than simply requiring the integer to have exactly three prime factors; e.g. 60 = 22 × 3 × 5 has exactly 3 prime factors, but is not sphenic.

All sphenic numbers have exactly eight divisors. If we express the sphenic number as n = x \cdot y \cdot z, then its divisors will be (possibly not sorted):

\left\{ 1, \ x, \ y, \ z, \ x y, \ x z, \ y z, \ n \right\}

The first few sphenic numbers are: 30, 42, 66, 70, 78, 102, 105, 110, 114, 130, ...

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Last updated: 05-02-2005 21:53:31
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55