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Sebastien Palcoux
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The followingLower bounds
The code written below computes lower bounds for the smallest possible such $c$.

  • After 15 minutes of computation, my laptop got that $c>41$ (see the details below),
  • After 18 hours, it got that $c>59$ (improveable by more computation time).

Here is howYou will find all the code works: assumedetails below. Better lower bounds can be get by more computation time.

First steps of the computation
Assume that such $c$ exists. We know that $\lfloor c\rfloor$ is prime, so $c \ge 2$. Then $c^2 \ge 4$, but $\lfloor c^2 \rfloor$ is prime, so $c^2 \ge 5$ and then $c \ge 5^{1/2}$. Now, $\lfloor 5^{1/2} \rfloor = 2$, $\lfloor 5^{2/2} \rfloor = 5$, $\lfloor 5^{3/2} \rfloor = 11$, $\lfloor 5^{4/2} \rfloor = 25$. But $c \ge 5^{1/2}$, so $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor \ge \lfloor 5^{4/2} \rfloor = 25$ and $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor$ is prime, so $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor \ge 29$ (the next prime after $25$). Thus $c \ge 29^{1/4}$. Now $\lfloor 29^{1/4} \rfloor = 2$, $\lfloor 29^{2/4} \rfloor = 5$, $\lfloor 29^{3/4} \rfloor = 12$. But $c \ge 29^{1/4}$, so $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor \ge \lfloor 29^{3/4} \rfloor = 12$ and $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor$ is prime, so $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor \ge 13$ (the next prime after $12$). Thus $c \ge 13^{1/3}$...etc, and so on.

TheLength records
The computation provides also length records (see below for moreall the details below), for example:


 

Code
Here is the code written in SageMath:

sage: def pp(x,m,N):
....:     if m==0:
....:         return [x,N]
....:     n=1
....:     while is_prime(floor(x^n)):
....:         n+=1
....:     y=(next_prime(floor(x^n)))^(1/n)
....:     if n>N:
....:        print([y.n(),x,n])
....:     if m>0:
....:         return pp(y,m-1,max(N,n))
....:

 

ComputationsComputation
Here is the computation proving the lower bounds and the length records mentioned above.

sage: [x,N]=[2,1]
....: for i in range(1022):
....:     print([x.n(),[i]])
....:     [x,N]=pp(x,2000,N)
....: 
[2.00000000000000, [0]]
[2.23606797749979, 2, 2]
[2.32059578710608, sqrt(5), 4]
[2.36051999685294, 31^(1/4), 6]
[2.36103991787210, 173^(1/6), 7]
[2.36144757900740, 409^(1/7), 8]
[2.36184719247834, 967^(1/8), 9]
[11.4754436180012, 3450844193^(1/9), 10]
[11.4772249460124, 39661481813^(1/10), 11]
[13.1754084688783, 2076849234433^(1/11), 12]
[13.9025228053976, 52134281654579^(1/12), 13]
[17.5369538773784, 14838980942616539^(1/13), 14]
[17.5369538773784, 260230524377962793^(1/14), 15]
[17.5369538773784, 4563650703502319197^(1/15), 16]
[17.5369538773784, 80032531899785490253^(1/16), 17]
[19.5947182358701, [1]]
[23.2708572819963, 172111744128569095516889^(1/17), 18]
[23.2708572819963, 4005187834171404283105501^(1/18), 19]
[23.4071193822604, [2]]
[29.2781355078466, [3]]
[29.2836275624131, 7342984643407766159814138311^(1/19), 20]
[29.2836275624130, 215029227494071397857756115239^(1/20), 22]
[29.2836275624130, 184394194768671251848277906031901^(1/22), 23]
[29.3140651944330, [4]]
[29.6863280163833, [5]]
[29.7199886617202, [6]]
[29.7262158681975, [7]]
[29.7986032159883, [8]]
[31.1080969548337, [9]]
[31.1656716760603, [10]]
[31.3602318150116, [11]]
[31.4936884203380, [12]]
[31.5855793146363, [13]]
[31.5877240204566, [14]]
[31.7708284209810, [15]]
[31.7776275935340, [16]]
[31.9228719777914, [17]]
[31.9561321469378, [18]]
[31.9561321470032, 40248230682190652963808004897577443^(1/23), 24]
[31.9561321470032, 1286177778363154944458206697482326941^(1/24), 25]
[37.0580160390721, [19]]
[37.0584389108062, [20]]
[37.0658517174746, [21]]
[37.1639162040819, [22]]
[37.1669125206849, [23]]
[37.1683288435420, [24]]
[37.1687268547021, [25]]
[37.4113116298099, [26]]
[37.4118531804157, [27]]
[37.4119519979104, 2114750864194724801026123348775078610409^(1/25), 26]
[37.4119519979104, 79116957818792486170093330814381247140659^(1/26), 27]
[37.4133160075168, [28]]
[37.5366773413800, [29]]
[37.5399875044127, [30]]
[37.5479790983487, [31]]
[37.5481223970385, [32]]
[37.7259910967192, [33]]
[37.7273014336926, [34]]
[37.7315275341604, [35]]
[37.7349245483495, [36]]
[37.7783534119867, [37]]
[37.7807097942423, [38]]
[37.7835286660001, [39]]
[37.7863629239001, [40]]
[37.8064776911507, [41]]
[37.8562779668531, [42]]
[37.8623613459024, [43]]
[37.9373990583452, [44]]
[37.9424408570224, [45]]
[37.9426346064883, [46]]
[37.9444485557837, [47]]
[41.1462253191129, 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27), 28]
[41.1521261606709, [48]]
[41.1533074278378, [49]]
............... etc ....................
[53.9436697195599, 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35), 36]
[53.9436702309118, [1015]]
[53.9436784982251, [1016]]
[53.9436794835264, [1017]
[53.9436818954090, [1018]]
[53.9436819071867, [1019]]
[53.9436825661574, [1020]]
[59.0854858349532, [1021]]

Details of the computation proving that $c>41$ (time = 15 minutes).
To get $c>59$ replaceWe took range(50)m=2000 bybecause if range(1022)m is too big then SageMath crashed (see below, time = 18 hourson my laptop), then we iterated $1022$ times, so $2044000$ steps in all. We skipped the intermediate prints for $50 < i < 1015$.

Prints explanation: thePrints explanation
The computation prints two types of list:

  • If it is of lengthsize $2$ then it corresponds to [x.n(),[i]] which means that after $2000i$ steps we reached the lower bound x (x.n() is just a numerical approximation).
  • If it is of lengthsize $3$ then it corresponds to [y.n(),x,n] which means that for all $a < y$, the sequence $(\lfloor a^r \rfloor)_r$ starts by less than $n$ prime numbers, and $n-1$ is realized by $x<y$.

We took m=2000 because if m is too big then SageMath crashed (on my laptop), then we iterated 50 times, so 100000 steps in all.

sage: [x,N]=[2,1]
....: for i in range(50):
....:     print([x.n(),[i]])
....:     [x,N]=pp(x,2000,N)
....:
[2.00000000000000, [0]]
[2.23606797749979, 2, 2]
[2.32059578710608, sqrt(5), 4]
[2.36051999685294, 31^(1/4), 6]
[2.36103991787210, 173^(1/6), 7]
[2.36144757900740, 409^(1/7), 8]
[2.36184719247834, 967^(1/8), 9]
[11.4754436180012, 3450844193^(1/9), 10]
[11.4772249460124, 39661481813^(1/10), 11]
[13.1754084688783, 2076849234433^(1/11), 12]
[13.9025228053976, 52134281654579^(1/12), 13]
[17.5369538773784, 14838980942616539^(1/13), 14]
[17.5369538773784, 260230524377962793^(1/14), 15]
[17.5369538773784, 4563650703502319197^(1/15), 16]
[17.5369538773784, 80032531899785490253^(1/16), 17]
[19.5947182358701, [1]]
[23.2708572819963, 172111744128569095516889^(1/17), 18]
[23.2708572819963, 4005187834171404283105501^(1/18), 19]
[23.4071193822604, [2]]
[29.2781355078466, [3]]
[29.2836275624131, 7342984643407766159814138311^(1/19), 20]
[29.2836275624130, 215029227494071397857756115239^(1/20), 22]
[29.2836275624130, 184394194768671251848277906031901^(1/22), 23]
[29.3140651944330, [4]]
[29.6863280163833, [5]]
[29.7199886617202, [6]]
[29.7262158681975, [7]]
[29.7986032159883, [8]]
[31.1080969548337, [9]]
[31.1656716760603, [10]]
[31.3602318150116, [11]]
[31.4936884203380, [12]]
[31.5855793146363, [13]]
[31.5877240204566, [14]]
[31.7708284209810, [15]]
[31.7776275935340, [16]]
[31.9228719777914, [17]]
[31.9561321469378, [18]]
[31.9561321470032, 40248230682190652963808004897577443^(1/23), 24]
[31.9561321470032, 1286177778363154944458206697482326941^(1/24), 25]
[37.0580160390721, [19]]
[37.0584389108062, [20]]
[37.0658517174746, [21]]
[37.1639162040819, [22]]
[37.1669125206849, [23]]
[37.1683288435420, [24]]
[37.1687268547021, [25]]
[37.4113116298099, [26]]
[37.4118531804157, [27]]
[37.4119519979104, 2114750864194724801026123348775078610409^(1/25), 26]
[37.4119519979104, 79116957818792486170093330814381247140659^(1/26), 27]
[37.4133160075168, [28]]
[37.5366773413800, [29]]
[37.5399875044127, [30]]
[37.5479790983487, [31]]
[37.5481223970385, [32]]
[37.7259910967192, [33]]
[37.7273014336926, [34]]
[37.7315275341604, [35]]
[37.7349245483495, [36]]
[37.7783534119867, [37]]
[37.7807097942423, [38]]
[37.7835286660001, [39]]
[37.7863629239001, [40]]
[37.8064776911507, [41]]
[37.8562779668531, [42]]
[37.8623613459024, [43]]
[37.9373990583452, [44]]
[37.9424408570224, [45]]
[37.9426346064883, [46]]
[37.9444485557837, [47]]
[41.1462253191129, 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27), 28]
[41.1521261606709, [48]]
[41.1533074278378, [49]]

The smallest $x$ such that the sequence $(\lfloor x^n \rfloor)_n$ starts by $27$ prime numbers is $x = 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^{1/27} \simeq 41.146$.

sage: x=38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27)
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in range(1,28)]
[41,
 1693,
 69661,
 2866289,
 117936979,
 4852661521,
 199668704371,
 8215613499241,
 338041484174539,
 13909131075052931,
 572308241207202497,
 23548323844696748659,
 968924638801330588309,
 39867591505359597096497,
 1640400903009876073202443,
 67496305168920571652572271,
 2777218180688008234140354019,
 114272045022925494706426972643,
 4701863312189102352562450647343,
 193463927263003124964953243458331,
 7960310342283989048957005995760097,
 327536722953681474755429159335036199,
 13476899802936024915424299817959748633,
 554523555894713462471785930643956846483,
 22816551175599557614676776265536047443603,
 938814955676288945033539543576440477832567,
 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723]
sage: x.n()
41.1462253191129

Explicit sequences for the length records

To get $c>59$ (time = 18 hours), here is the computation (we skipped the intermediate prints).Length 27

sage: [x,N]=[2,1]
....: for i in rangex=38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(10221/27):
....sage:     print([xx.n(),[i]])
...41.1462253191129
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in [x,N]=pprange(x,20001,N28)
....:]
[2.00000000000000[41, 
 [0]]1693,
[2.23606797749979 69661, 
 22866289, 
 2]117936979,
[2.32059578710608 4852661521, 
 sqrt(5)199668704371, 
 4]8215613499241,
............... etc338041484174539,
 ....................13909131075052931,
[53.9436697195599 572308241207202497, 
 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35)23548323844696748659, 
 36]968924638801330588309,
[53.9436702309118 39867591505359597096497, 
 [1015]]1640400903009876073202443,
[53.9436784982251 67496305168920571652572271, 
 [1016]]2777218180688008234140354019,
[53.9436794835264 114272045022925494706426972643, 
 [1017]4701863312189102352562450647343,
[53.9436818954090 193463927263003124964953243458331, 
 [1018]]7960310342283989048957005995760097,
[53.9436819071867 327536722953681474755429159335036199, 
 [1019]]13476899802936024915424299817959748633,
[53.9436825661574 554523555894713462471785930643956846483, 
 [1020]]22816551175599557614676776265536047443603,
[59.0854858349532 938814955676288945033539543576440477832567, 
 [1021]]38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723]

The smallest $x$ such that the sequence $(\lfloor x^n \rfloor)_n$ starts by $35$ prime numbers is $x = 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^{1/35} \simeq 53.94$.Length 35

sage: x=4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35)
sage: x.n()
53.9436697195599
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in range(1,36)]
[53,
 2909,
 156971,
 8467631,
 456775117,
 24640126081,
 1329178823209,
 71700783437431,
 3867803380382509,
 208643508091551469,
 11254996489620980821,
 607135813330920533459,
 32751133789239563874359,
 1766716344067858106189647,
 95303162952544927897525549,
 5141002345541482903522204573,
 277324532555372631935243953111,
 14959902989298364748262440497297,
 806992065891368174795394951094273,
 43532113468749303653986100712896887,
 2348281951152618500276459340180295249,
 126674945981380601052391522154658777199,
 6833311447762689695342149169976354827237,
 368613895828998383350681753288959741868319,
 19884386250639755929577516344783599870922529,
 1072636764480669473521399910231762010493578667,
 57861963352202618742765105036618265539241629887,
 3121286640396498386560879368924457870106070776561,
 168373655629623512662702993484676929764429005794377,
 9082692868759332058734233410406296531041203742381329,
 489953784276555631429428597665812242911507414311160479,
 26429905116863028778863328677541914579343251077156126963,
 1425726072343366036233932371293234811318245076148559248257,
 76908896357055934782538327507552055223759094236947310955187,
 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117]
sage:
sage: x.n()
53.9436697195599

The following code computes lower bounds for the smallest possible such $c$.

  • After 15 minutes of computation, my laptop got that $c>41$ (see the details below),
  • After 18 hours, it got that $c>59$ (improveable by more computation time).

Here is how the code works: assume that such $c$ exists. We know that $\lfloor c\rfloor$ is prime, so $c \ge 2$. Then $c^2 \ge 4$, but $\lfloor c^2 \rfloor$ is prime, so $c^2 \ge 5$ and then $c \ge 5^{1/2}$. Now, $\lfloor 5^{1/2} \rfloor = 2$, $\lfloor 5^{2/2} \rfloor = 5$, $\lfloor 5^{3/2} \rfloor = 11$, $\lfloor 5^{4/2} \rfloor = 25$. But $c \ge 5^{1/2}$, so $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor \ge \lfloor 5^{4/2} \rfloor = 25$ and $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor$ is prime, so $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor \ge 29$ (the next prime after $25$). Thus $c \ge 29^{1/4}$. Now $\lfloor 29^{1/4} \rfloor = 2$, $\lfloor 29^{2/4} \rfloor = 5$, $\lfloor 29^{3/4} \rfloor = 12$. But $c \ge 29^{1/4}$, so $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor \ge \lfloor 29^{3/4} \rfloor = 12$ and $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor$ is prime, so $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor \ge 13$ (the next prime after $12$). Thus $c \ge 13^{1/3}$...etc.

The computation provides also length records (see below for more details), for example:


 

Code

sage: def pp(x,m,N):
....:     if m==0:
....:         return [x,N]
....:     n=1
....:     while is_prime(floor(x^n)):
....:         n+=1
....:     y=(next_prime(floor(x^n)))^(1/n)
....:     if n>N:
....:        print([y.n(),x,n])
....:     if m>0:
....:         return pp(y,m-1,max(N,n))
....:

 

Computations

Details of the computation proving that $c>41$ (time = 15 minutes).
To get $c>59$ replace range(50) by range(1022) (see below, time = 18 hours).

Prints explanation: the computation prints two types of list:

  • If it is of length $2$ then it corresponds to [x.n(),[i]] which means that after $2000i$ steps we reached the lower bound x (x.n() is just a numerical approximation).
  • If it is of length $3$ then it corresponds to [y.n(),x,n] which means that for all $a < y$, the sequence $(\lfloor a^r \rfloor)_r$ starts by less than $n$ prime numbers, and $n-1$ is realized by $x<y$.

We took m=2000 because if m is too big then SageMath crashed (on my laptop), then we iterated 50 times, so 100000 steps in all.

sage: [x,N]=[2,1]
....: for i in range(50):
....:     print([x.n(),[i]])
....:     [x,N]=pp(x,2000,N)
....:
[2.00000000000000, [0]]
[2.23606797749979, 2, 2]
[2.32059578710608, sqrt(5), 4]
[2.36051999685294, 31^(1/4), 6]
[2.36103991787210, 173^(1/6), 7]
[2.36144757900740, 409^(1/7), 8]
[2.36184719247834, 967^(1/8), 9]
[11.4754436180012, 3450844193^(1/9), 10]
[11.4772249460124, 39661481813^(1/10), 11]
[13.1754084688783, 2076849234433^(1/11), 12]
[13.9025228053976, 52134281654579^(1/12), 13]
[17.5369538773784, 14838980942616539^(1/13), 14]
[17.5369538773784, 260230524377962793^(1/14), 15]
[17.5369538773784, 4563650703502319197^(1/15), 16]
[17.5369538773784, 80032531899785490253^(1/16), 17]
[19.5947182358701, [1]]
[23.2708572819963, 172111744128569095516889^(1/17), 18]
[23.2708572819963, 4005187834171404283105501^(1/18), 19]
[23.4071193822604, [2]]
[29.2781355078466, [3]]
[29.2836275624131, 7342984643407766159814138311^(1/19), 20]
[29.2836275624130, 215029227494071397857756115239^(1/20), 22]
[29.2836275624130, 184394194768671251848277906031901^(1/22), 23]
[29.3140651944330, [4]]
[29.6863280163833, [5]]
[29.7199886617202, [6]]
[29.7262158681975, [7]]
[29.7986032159883, [8]]
[31.1080969548337, [9]]
[31.1656716760603, [10]]
[31.3602318150116, [11]]
[31.4936884203380, [12]]
[31.5855793146363, [13]]
[31.5877240204566, [14]]
[31.7708284209810, [15]]
[31.7776275935340, [16]]
[31.9228719777914, [17]]
[31.9561321469378, [18]]
[31.9561321470032, 40248230682190652963808004897577443^(1/23), 24]
[31.9561321470032, 1286177778363154944458206697482326941^(1/24), 25]
[37.0580160390721, [19]]
[37.0584389108062, [20]]
[37.0658517174746, [21]]
[37.1639162040819, [22]]
[37.1669125206849, [23]]
[37.1683288435420, [24]]
[37.1687268547021, [25]]
[37.4113116298099, [26]]
[37.4118531804157, [27]]
[37.4119519979104, 2114750864194724801026123348775078610409^(1/25), 26]
[37.4119519979104, 79116957818792486170093330814381247140659^(1/26), 27]
[37.4133160075168, [28]]
[37.5366773413800, [29]]
[37.5399875044127, [30]]
[37.5479790983487, [31]]
[37.5481223970385, [32]]
[37.7259910967192, [33]]
[37.7273014336926, [34]]
[37.7315275341604, [35]]
[37.7349245483495, [36]]
[37.7783534119867, [37]]
[37.7807097942423, [38]]
[37.7835286660001, [39]]
[37.7863629239001, [40]]
[37.8064776911507, [41]]
[37.8562779668531, [42]]
[37.8623613459024, [43]]
[37.9373990583452, [44]]
[37.9424408570224, [45]]
[37.9426346064883, [46]]
[37.9444485557837, [47]]
[41.1462253191129, 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27), 28]
[41.1521261606709, [48]]
[41.1533074278378, [49]]

The smallest $x$ such that the sequence $(\lfloor x^n \rfloor)_n$ starts by $27$ prime numbers is $x = 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^{1/27} \simeq 41.146$.

sage: x=38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27)
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in range(1,28)]
[41,
 1693,
 69661,
 2866289,
 117936979,
 4852661521,
 199668704371,
 8215613499241,
 338041484174539,
 13909131075052931,
 572308241207202497,
 23548323844696748659,
 968924638801330588309,
 39867591505359597096497,
 1640400903009876073202443,
 67496305168920571652572271,
 2777218180688008234140354019,
 114272045022925494706426972643,
 4701863312189102352562450647343,
 193463927263003124964953243458331,
 7960310342283989048957005995760097,
 327536722953681474755429159335036199,
 13476899802936024915424299817959748633,
 554523555894713462471785930643956846483,
 22816551175599557614676776265536047443603,
 938814955676288945033539543576440477832567,
 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723]
sage: x.n()
41.1462253191129

To get $c>59$ (time = 18 hours), here is the computation (we skipped the intermediate prints).

sage: [x,N]=[2,1]
....: for i in range(1022):
....:     print([x.n(),[i]])
....:     [x,N]=pp(x,2000,N)
....:
[2.00000000000000, [0]]
[2.23606797749979, 2, 2]
[2.32059578710608, sqrt(5), 4]
............... etc ....................
[53.9436697195599, 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35), 36]
[53.9436702309118, [1015]]
[53.9436784982251, [1016]]
[53.9436794835264, [1017]
[53.9436818954090, [1018]]
[53.9436819071867, [1019]]
[53.9436825661574, [1020]]
[59.0854858349532, [1021]]

The smallest $x$ such that the sequence $(\lfloor x^n \rfloor)_n$ starts by $35$ prime numbers is $x = 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^{1/35} \simeq 53.94$.

sage: x=4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35)
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in range(1,36)]
[53,
 2909,
 156971,
 8467631,
 456775117,
 24640126081,
 1329178823209,
 71700783437431,
 3867803380382509,
 208643508091551469,
 11254996489620980821,
 607135813330920533459,
 32751133789239563874359,
 1766716344067858106189647,
 95303162952544927897525549,
 5141002345541482903522204573,
 277324532555372631935243953111,
 14959902989298364748262440497297,
 806992065891368174795394951094273,
 43532113468749303653986100712896887,
 2348281951152618500276459340180295249,
 126674945981380601052391522154658777199,
 6833311447762689695342149169976354827237,
 368613895828998383350681753288959741868319,
 19884386250639755929577516344783599870922529,
 1072636764480669473521399910231762010493578667,
 57861963352202618742765105036618265539241629887,
 3121286640396498386560879368924457870106070776561,
 168373655629623512662702993484676929764429005794377,
 9082692868759332058734233410406296531041203742381329,
 489953784276555631429428597665812242911507414311160479,
 26429905116863028778863328677541914579343251077156126963,
 1425726072343366036233932371293234811318245076148559248257,
 76908896357055934782538327507552055223759094236947310955187,
 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117]
sage:
sage: x.n()
53.9436697195599

Lower bounds
The code written below computes lower bounds for the smallest possible such $c$.

  • After 15 minutes of computation, my laptop got that $c>41$,
  • After 18 hours, it got that $c>59$.

You will find all the details below. Better lower bounds can be get by more computation time.

First steps of the computation
Assume that such $c$ exists. We know that $\lfloor c\rfloor$ is prime, so $c \ge 2$. Then $c^2 \ge 4$, but $\lfloor c^2 \rfloor$ is prime, so $c^2 \ge 5$ and then $c \ge 5^{1/2}$. Now, $\lfloor 5^{1/2} \rfloor = 2$, $\lfloor 5^{2/2} \rfloor = 5$, $\lfloor 5^{3/2} \rfloor = 11$, $\lfloor 5^{4/2} \rfloor = 25$. But $c \ge 5^{1/2}$, so $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor \ge \lfloor 5^{4/2} \rfloor = 25$ and $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor$ is prime, so $\lfloor c^4 \rfloor \ge 29$ (the next prime after $25$). Thus $c \ge 29^{1/4}$. Now $\lfloor 29^{1/4} \rfloor = 2$, $\lfloor 29^{2/4} \rfloor = 5$, $\lfloor 29^{3/4} \rfloor = 12$. But $c \ge 29^{1/4}$, so $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor \ge \lfloor 29^{3/4} \rfloor = 12$ and $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor$ is prime, so $\lfloor c^3 \rfloor \ge 13$ (the next prime after $12$). Thus $c \ge 13^{1/3}$, and so on.

Length records
The computation provides also length records (see all the details below), for example:

Code
Here is the code written in SageMath:

sage: def pp(x,m,N):
....:     if m==0:
....:         return [x,N]
....:     n=1
....:     while is_prime(floor(x^n)):
....:         n+=1
....:     y=(next_prime(floor(x^n)))^(1/n)
....:     if n>N:
....:        print([y.n(),x,n])
....:     if m>0:
....:         return pp(y,m-1,max(N,n))

Computation
Here is the computation proving the lower bounds and the length records mentioned above.

sage: [x,N]=[2,1]
....: for i in range(1022):
....:     print([x.n(),[i]])
....:     [x,N]=pp(x,2000,N)
....: 
[2.00000000000000, [0]]
[2.23606797749979, 2, 2]
[2.32059578710608, sqrt(5), 4]
[2.36051999685294, 31^(1/4), 6]
[2.36103991787210, 173^(1/6), 7]
[2.36144757900740, 409^(1/7), 8]
[2.36184719247834, 967^(1/8), 9]
[11.4754436180012, 3450844193^(1/9), 10]
[11.4772249460124, 39661481813^(1/10), 11]
[13.1754084688783, 2076849234433^(1/11), 12]
[13.9025228053976, 52134281654579^(1/12), 13]
[17.5369538773784, 14838980942616539^(1/13), 14]
[17.5369538773784, 260230524377962793^(1/14), 15]
[17.5369538773784, 4563650703502319197^(1/15), 16]
[17.5369538773784, 80032531899785490253^(1/16), 17]
[19.5947182358701, [1]]
[23.2708572819963, 172111744128569095516889^(1/17), 18]
[23.2708572819963, 4005187834171404283105501^(1/18), 19]
[23.4071193822604, [2]]
[29.2781355078466, [3]]
[29.2836275624131, 7342984643407766159814138311^(1/19), 20]
[29.2836275624130, 215029227494071397857756115239^(1/20), 22]
[29.2836275624130, 184394194768671251848277906031901^(1/22), 23]
[29.3140651944330, [4]]
[29.6863280163833, [5]]
[29.7199886617202, [6]]
[29.7262158681975, [7]]
[29.7986032159883, [8]]
[31.1080969548337, [9]]
[31.1656716760603, [10]]
[31.3602318150116, [11]]
[31.4936884203380, [12]]
[31.5855793146363, [13]]
[31.5877240204566, [14]]
[31.7708284209810, [15]]
[31.7776275935340, [16]]
[31.9228719777914, [17]]
[31.9561321469378, [18]]
[31.9561321470032, 40248230682190652963808004897577443^(1/23), 24]
[31.9561321470032, 1286177778363154944458206697482326941^(1/24), 25]
[37.0580160390721, [19]]
[37.0584389108062, [20]]
[37.0658517174746, [21]]
[37.1639162040819, [22]]
[37.1669125206849, [23]]
[37.1683288435420, [24]]
[37.1687268547021, [25]]
[37.4113116298099, [26]]
[37.4118531804157, [27]]
[37.4119519979104, 2114750864194724801026123348775078610409^(1/25), 26]
[37.4119519979104, 79116957818792486170093330814381247140659^(1/26), 27]
[37.4133160075168, [28]]
[37.5366773413800, [29]]
[37.5399875044127, [30]]
[37.5479790983487, [31]]
[37.5481223970385, [32]]
[37.7259910967192, [33]]
[37.7273014336926, [34]]
[37.7315275341604, [35]]
[37.7349245483495, [36]]
[37.7783534119867, [37]]
[37.7807097942423, [38]]
[37.7835286660001, [39]]
[37.7863629239001, [40]]
[37.8064776911507, [41]]
[37.8562779668531, [42]]
[37.8623613459024, [43]]
[37.9373990583452, [44]]
[37.9424408570224, [45]]
[37.9426346064883, [46]]
[37.9444485557837, [47]]
[41.1462253191129, 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27), 28]
[41.1521261606709, [48]]
[41.1533074278378, [49]]
............... etc ....................
[53.9436697195599, 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35), 36]
[53.9436702309118, [1015]]
[53.9436784982251, [1016]]
[53.9436794835264, [1017]
[53.9436818954090, [1018]]
[53.9436819071867, [1019]]
[53.9436825661574, [1020]]
[59.0854858349532, [1021]]

We took m=2000 because if m is too big then SageMath crashed (on my laptop), then we iterated $1022$ times, so $2044000$ steps in all. We skipped the intermediate prints for $50 < i < 1015$.

Prints explanation
The computation prints two types of list:

  • If it is of size $2$ then it corresponds to [x.n(),[i]] which means that after $2000i$ steps we reached the lower bound x (x.n() is just a numerical approximation).
  • If it is of size $3$ then it corresponds to [y.n(),x,n] which means that for all $a < y$, the sequence $(\lfloor a^r \rfloor)_r$ starts by less than $n$ prime numbers, and $n-1$ is realized by $x<y$.

Explicit sequences for the length records

Length 27

sage: x=38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723^(1/27)
sage: x.n()
41.1462253191129
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in range(1,28)]
[41, 
 1693,
 69661, 
 2866289, 
 117936979,
 4852661521, 
 199668704371, 
 8215613499241,
 338041484174539,
 13909131075052931,
 572308241207202497, 
 23548323844696748659, 
 968924638801330588309,
 39867591505359597096497, 
 1640400903009876073202443,
 67496305168920571652572271, 
 2777218180688008234140354019,
 114272045022925494706426972643, 
 4701863312189102352562450647343,
 193463927263003124964953243458331, 
 7960310342283989048957005995760097,
 327536722953681474755429159335036199, 
 13476899802936024915424299817959748633,
 554523555894713462471785930643956846483, 
 22816551175599557614676776265536047443603,
 938814955676288945033539543576440477832567, 
 38628691699209543232005302230980383283077723]

Length 35

sage: x=4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117^(1/35)
sage: x.n()
53.9436697195599
sage: [factor(floor(x^n)) for n in range(1,36)]
[53,
 2909,
 156971,
 8467631,
 456775117,
 24640126081,
 1329178823209,
 71700783437431,
 3867803380382509,
 208643508091551469,
 11254996489620980821,
 607135813330920533459,
 32751133789239563874359,
 1766716344067858106189647,
 95303162952544927897525549,
 5141002345541482903522204573,
 277324532555372631935243953111,
 14959902989298364748262440497297,
 806992065891368174795394951094273,
 43532113468749303653986100712896887,
 2348281951152618500276459340180295249,
 126674945981380601052391522154658777199,
 6833311447762689695342149169976354827237,
 368613895828998383350681753288959741868319,
 19884386250639755929577516344783599870922529,
 1072636764480669473521399910231762010493578667,
 57861963352202618742765105036618265539241629887,
 3121286640396498386560879368924457870106070776561,
 168373655629623512662702993484676929764429005794377,
 9082692868759332058734233410406296531041203742381329,
 489953784276555631429428597665812242911507414311160479,
 26429905116863028778863328677541914579343251077156126963,
 1425726072343366036233932371293234811318245076148559248257,
 76908896357055934782538327507552055223759094236947310955187,
 4148748103580890708839735608204733043355735349912591106907117]
guess for the length record asymptotic
Source Link
Sebastien Palcoux
  • 27k
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  • 74
  • 186

Asymptotic: The length record for $y < x$ seems to be approximately $2.5 \dfrac{x}{\ln(x)}$.

Asymptotic: The length record for $y < x$ seems to be approximately $2.5 \dfrac{x}{\ln(x)}$.

minor edit: typo
Source Link
Sebastien Palcoux
  • 27k
  • 5
  • 74
  • 186
  • If it is of length $2$ then it corresponds to [x.n(),[i]] which means that after $2000i$ steps we reached the lower bound x (x.n() is just a numerical approximation).
  • If it is of length $3$ then it corresponds to [y.n(),x,n] which means that for all $a < y$, the sequence $(\lfloor a^n \rfloor)_n$$(\lfloor a^r \rfloor)_r$ starts by less than $n$ prime numbers, and $n-1$ is realized by $x<y$.
  • If it is of length $2$ then it corresponds to [x.n(),[i]] which means that after $2000i$ steps we reached the lower bound x (x.n() is just a numerical approximation).
  • If it is of length $3$ then it corresponds to [y.n(),x,n] which means that for all $a < y$, the sequence $(\lfloor a^n \rfloor)_n$ starts by less than $n$ prime numbers, and $n-1$ is realized by $x<y$.
  • If it is of length $2$ then it corresponds to [x.n(),[i]] which means that after $2000i$ steps we reached the lower bound x (x.n() is just a numerical approximation).
  • If it is of length $3$ then it corresponds to [y.n(),x,n] which means that for all $a < y$, the sequence $(\lfloor a^r \rfloor)_r$ starts by less than $n$ prime numbers, and $n-1$ is realized by $x<y$.
made the print out clearer + computation update
Source Link
Sebastien Palcoux
  • 27k
  • 5
  • 74
  • 186
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replaced c by y in the code to avoid confusion
Source Link
Sebastien Palcoux
  • 27k
  • 5
  • 74
  • 186
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Source Link
Sebastien Palcoux
  • 27k
  • 5
  • 74
  • 186
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