A highly composite number is a positive integer with more divisors than any smaller positive integer has. A related concept is that of a largely composite number, a positive integer which has at least as many divisors as any smaller positive integer. The name can be somewhat misleading, as the first two highly composite numbers (1 and 2) are not actually composite numbers; however, all further terms are.

Ramanujan wrote a paper on highly composite numbers in 1915.^[1]

The mathematician Jean-Pierre Kahane suggested that Plato must have known about highly composite numbers as he deliberately chose such a number, 5040 (= 7!), as the ideal number of citizens in a city.^[2]

Furthermore, Vardoulakis and Pugh's paper^[3] delves into a similar inquiry concerning the number 5040.

The initial or smallest 41 highly composite numbers are listed in the table below (sequence A002182 in the OEIS). The number of divisors is given in the column labeled d(n). Asterisks indicate superior highly composite numbers.

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Order	HCN n	prime factorization	prime exponents	number of prime factors	d(n)	primorial factorization
1	1			0	1
2	2*	${\displaystyle 2}$	1	1	2	${\displaystyle 2}$
3	4	${\displaystyle 2^{2}}$	2	2	3	${\displaystyle 2^{2}}$
4	6*	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 3}$	1,1	2	4	${\displaystyle 6}$
5	12*	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 3}$	2,1	3	6	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6}$
6	24	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3}$	3,1	4	8	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 6}$
7	36	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 3^{2}}$	2,2	4	9	${\displaystyle 6^{2}}$
8	48	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3}$	4,1	5	10	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 6}$
9	60*	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 3\cdot 5}$	2,1,1	4	12	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 30}$
10	120*	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3\cdot 5}$	3,1,1	5	16	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 30}$
11	180	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5}$	2,2,1	5	18	${\displaystyle 6\cdot 30}$
12	240	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3\cdot 5}$	4,1,1	6	20	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 30}$
13	360*	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5}$	3,2,1	6	24	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6\cdot 30}$
14	720	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5}$	4,2,1	7	30	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 6\cdot 30}$
15	840	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	3,1,1,1	6	32	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 210}$
16	1260	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	2,2,1,1	6	36	${\displaystyle 6\cdot 210}$
17	1680	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	4,1,1,1	7	40	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 210}$
18	2520*	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	3,2,1,1	7	48	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6\cdot 210}$
19	5040*	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	4,2,1,1	8	60	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 6\cdot 210}$
20	7560	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	3,3,1,1	8	64	${\displaystyle 6^{2}\cdot 210}$
21	10080	${\displaystyle 2^{5}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	5,2,1,1	9	72	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 6\cdot 210}$
22	15120	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	4,3,1,1	9	80	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6^{2}\cdot 210}$
23	20160	${\displaystyle 2^{6}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	6,2,1,1	10	84	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 6\cdot 210}$
24	25200	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5^{2}\cdot 7}$	4,2,2,1	9	90	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 30\cdot 210}$
25	27720	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	3,2,1,1,1	8	96	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6\cdot 2310}$
26	45360	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{4}\cdot 5\cdot 7}$	4,4,1,1	10	100	${\displaystyle 6^{3}\cdot 210}$
27	50400	${\displaystyle 2^{5}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5^{2}\cdot 7}$	5,2,2,1	10	108	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 30\cdot 210}$
28	55440*	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	4,2,1,1,1	9	120	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 6\cdot 2310}$
29	83160	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	3,3,1,1,1	9	128	${\displaystyle 6^{2}\cdot 2310}$
30	110880	${\displaystyle 2^{5}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	5,2,1,1,1	10	144	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 6\cdot 2310}$
31	166320	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	4,3,1,1,1	10	160	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6^{2}\cdot 2310}$
32	221760	${\displaystyle 2^{6}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	6,2,1,1,1	11	168	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 6\cdot 2310}$
33	277200	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5^{2}\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	4,2,2,1,1	10	180	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 30\cdot 2310}$
34	332640	${\displaystyle 2^{5}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	5,3,1,1,1	11	192	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 6^{2}\cdot 2310}$
35	498960	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{4}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	4,4,1,1,1	11	200	${\displaystyle 6^{3}\cdot 2310}$
36	554400	${\displaystyle 2^{5}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5^{2}\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	5,2,2,1,1	11	216	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 30\cdot 2310}$
37	665280	${\displaystyle 2^{6}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11}$	6,3,1,1,1	12	224	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 6^{2}\cdot 2310}$
38	720720*	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11\cdot 13}$	4,2,1,1,1,1	10	240	${\displaystyle 2^{2}\cdot 6\cdot 30030}$
39	1081080	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11\cdot 13}$	3,3,1,1,1,1	10	256	${\displaystyle 6^{2}\cdot 30030}$
40	1441440*	${\displaystyle 2^{5}\cdot 3^{2}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11\cdot 13}$	5,2,1,1,1,1	11	288	${\displaystyle 2^{3}\cdot 6\cdot 30030}$
41	2162160	${\displaystyle 2^{4}\cdot 3^{3}\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11\cdot 13}$	4,3,1,1,1,1	11	320	${\displaystyle 2\cdot 6^{2}\cdot 30030}$

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The divisors of the first 19 highly composite numbers are shown below.

The table below shows all 72 divisors of 10080 by writing it as a product of two numbers in 36 different ways.

The 15,000th highly composite number can be found on Achim Flammenkamp's website. It is the product of 230 primes:

${\displaystyle a_{0}^{14}a_{1}^{9}a_{2}^{6}a_{3}^{4}a_{4}^{4}a_{5}^{3}a_{6}^{3}a_{7}^{3}a_{8}^{2}a_{9}^{2}a_{10}^{2}a_{11}^{2}a_{12}^{2}a_{13}^{2}a_{14}^{2}a_{15}^{2}a_{16}^{2}a_{17}^{2}a_{18}^{2}a_{19}a_{20}a_{21}\cdots a_{229},}$

where ${\displaystyle a_{n}}$ is the ${\displaystyle n}$th successive prime number, and all omitted terms (a₂₂ to a₂₂₈) are factors with exponent equal to one (i.e. the number is ${\displaystyle 2^{14}\times 3^{9}\times 5^{6}\times \cdots \times 1451}$). More concisely, it is the product of seven distinct primorials:

${\displaystyle b_{0}^{5}b_{1}^{3}b_{2}^{2}b_{4}b_{7}b_{18}b_{229},}$

where ${\displaystyle b_{n}}$ is the primorial ${\displaystyle a_{0}a_{1}\cdots a_{n}}$.^[4]

Roughly speaking, for a number to be highly composite it has to have prime factors as small as possible, but not too many of the same. By the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, every positive integer n has a unique prime factorization:

${\displaystyle n=p_{1}^{c_{1}}\times p_{2}^{c_{2}}\times \cdots \times p_{k}^{c_{k}}\qquad (1)}$

where ${\displaystyle p_{1}<p_{2}<\cdots <p_{k}}$ are prime, and the exponents ${\displaystyle c_{i}}$ are positive integers.

Any factor of n must have the same or lesser multiplicity in each prime:

${\displaystyle p_{1}^{d_{1}}\times p_{2}^{d_{2}}\times \cdots \times p_{k}^{d_{k}},0\leq d_{i}\leq c_{i},0<i\leq k}$

So the number of divisors of n is:

${\displaystyle d(n)=(c_{1}+1)\times (c_{2}+1)\times \cdots \times (c_{k}+1).\qquad (2)}$

Hence, for a highly composite number n,

• the k given prime numbers p_i must be precisely the first k prime numbers (2, 3, 5, ...); if not, we could replace one of the given primes by a smaller prime, and thus obtain a smaller number than n with the same number of divisors (for instance 10 = 2 × 5 may be replaced with 6 = 2 × 3; both have four divisors);
• the sequence of exponents must be non-increasing, that is ${\displaystyle c_{1}\geq c_{2}\geq \cdots \geq c_{k}}$; otherwise, by exchanging two exponents we would again get a smaller number than n with the same number of divisors (for instance 18 = 2¹ × 3² may be replaced with 12 = 2² × 3¹; both have six divisors).

Also, except in two special cases n = 4 and n = 36, the last exponent c_k must equal 1. It means that 1, 4, and 36 are the only square highly composite numbers. Saying that the sequence of exponents is non-increasing is equivalent to saying that a highly composite number is a product of primorials or, alternatively, the smallest number for its prime signature.

Note that although the above described conditions are necessary, they are not sufficient for a number to be highly composite. For example, 96 = 2⁵ × 3 satisfies the above conditions and has 12 divisors but is not highly composite since there is a smaller number 60 which has the same number of divisors.

If Q(x) denotes the number of highly composite numbers less than or equal to x, then there are two constants a and b, both greater than 1, such that

${\displaystyle (\log x)^{a}\leq Q(x)\leq (\log x)^{b}\,.}$

The first part of the inequality was proved by Paul Erdős in 1944 and the second part by Jean-Louis Nicolas in 1988. We have^[5]

${\displaystyle 1.13862<\liminf {\frac {\log Q(x)}{\log \log x}}\leq 1.44\ }$

and

${\displaystyle \limsup {\frac {\log Q(x)}{\log \log x}}\leq 1.71\ .}$

Highly composite numbers greater than 6 are also abundant numbers. One need only look at the three largest proper divisors of a particular highly composite number to ascertain this fact. It is false that all highly composite numbers are also Harshad numbers in base 10. The first HCN that is not a Harshad number is 245,044,800, which has a digit sum of 27, but 27 does not divide evenly into 245,044,800.

10 of the first 38 highly composite numbers are superior highly composite numbers. The sequence of highly composite numbers (sequence A002182 in the OEIS) is a subset of the sequence of smallest numbers k with exactly n divisors (sequence A005179 in the OEIS).

Highly composite numbers whose number of divisors is also a highly composite number are for n = 1, 2, 6, 12, 60, 360, 1260, 2520, 5040, 55440, 277200, 720720, 3603600, 61261200, 2205403200, 293318625600, 6746328388800, 195643523275200 (sequence A189394 in the OEIS). It is extremely likely that this sequence is complete.

A positive integer n is a largely composite number if d(n) ≥ d(m) for all m ≤ n. The counting function Q_L(x) of largely composite numbers satisfies

${\displaystyle (\log x)^{c}\leq \log Q_{L}(x)\leq (\log x)^{d}\ }$

for positive c,d with ${\displaystyle 0.2\leq c\leq d\leq 0.5}$.^[6][7]

Because the prime factorization of a highly composite number uses all of the first k primes, every highly composite number must be a practical number.^[8] Due to their ease of use in calculations involving fractions, many of these numbers are used in traditional systems of measurement and engineering designs.

• Superior highly composite number
• Highly totient number
• Table of divisors
• Euler's totient function
• Round number
• Smooth number