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Artin's Conjecture

Conjecture 3.1 (Emil Artin)   If $ a\in\mathbb{Z}$ is not $ -1$ or a perfect square, then the number $ N(x,a)$ of primes $ p\leq x$ such that $ a$ is a primitive root modulo $ p$ is asymptotic to $ C(a)\pi(x)$, where $ C(a)$ is a constant that depends only on $ a$. In particular, there are infinitely many primes $ p$ such that $ a$ is a primitive root modulo $ p$.

Nobody has proved this conjecture for even a single choice of $ a$. There are partial results, e.g., that there are infinitely many $ p$ such that the order of $ a$ is divisible by the largest prime factor of $ p-1$. (See, e.g., Moree, Pieter, A note on Artin's conjecture.)



William A Stein 2001-10-13