Euclid-Euler Heuristics for Perfect Numbers

Abstract

An odd perfect number $N$ is said to be given in Eulerian form if $N = {q^k}{n^2}$ where $q$ is prime with $q \equiv k \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ and $\gcd(q,n) = 1$. Similarly, an even perfect number $M$ is said to be given in Euclidean form if $M = (2^p - 1)\cdot{2^{p - 1}}$ where $p$ and $2^p - 1$ are primes. In this article, we show how simple considerations surrounding the differences between the underlying properties of the Eulerian and Euclidean forms of perfect numbers give rise to what we will call the Euclid-Euler heuristics for perfect numbers.