In Book IX of The Elements, Euclid gave a method for constructing perfect numbers, although this method applies only to even perfect numbers. In a 1638 letter to Mersenne, Descartes proposed that every even perfect number is of Euclid's form, and stated that he saw no reason why an odd perfect number could not exist. Descartes was therefore among the first to consider the existence of odd perfect numbers; prior to Descartes, many authors had implicitly assumed (without proof) that the perfect numbers generated by Euclid's construction comprised all possible perfect numbers. In 1657, Frenicle repeated Descartes' belief that every even perfect number is of Euclid's form and that there was no reason odd perfect number could not exist. Like Frenicle, Euler also considered odd perfect numbers.

even perfect number | odd number | Ore's conjecture | perfect number