Prime-Producing Quadratics

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Let \(P(x)\) be a quadratic polynomial with discriminant \(\Delta\), and let \(C\) be the class group of \(K(\sqrt\Delta)\) with class number \(h\). The author seeks \(P\) for which \(P(x)\) takes distinct prime values for \(x= 0,1,\dots,m-1\). It is shown how large values of \(m\) are related to the structure of \(C\). Support is given to the conjecture that \(x^2+ x+A\) can give arbitrarily large values of \(m\) for suitable \(A\), but that to have \(m\geq 42\) (to exceed Euler's classical example with \(A= m=41\)) one would need \(A>10^{18}\). The author also considers quadratics that give prime values with high density (though not necessarily long runs of primes with consecutive values of \(x\)) and gives tables of the \(P\) for which \(h\) is a power of 2, and every member of \(C\) has order 2. None of these produces \(m>29\), but the quadratic \(36x^2- 810x+ 2753\) with \(m= 45\) (allowing some negative primes) has been discovered by R. Ruby.











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