Prime Numbers Explained in 5 Minutes
A prime number is a positive integer that has no divisors except for 1 and itself. If an integer is not prime it's called composite. Mathematicians do not regard 1 as a prime number, so the first prime number is 2.
Here are two equivalent statements..
If n is prime then a set of n objects cannot be split into subsets of equal size.
If n is prime then it can never be written as the product of two integers except for the trivial case 1*n.
Beginners sometimes get confused by the term "divisor". When mathematicians say that one integer divides another integer they mean with no remainder.
Prime numbers are fundamental numbers due to this fact..
Any integer greater than 2 can be written as a product of prime numbers. So you can think of prime numbers as the "building blocks" from which all numbers are made.
Here are the first 100 prime numbers. There is no known formula that produces the prime number sequence. Primes are indeed mysterious numbers!
2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29
31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71
73 79 83 89 97 101 103 107 109 113
127 131 137 139 149 151 157 163 167 173
179 181 191 193 197 199 211 223 227 229
233 239 241 251 257 263 269 271 277 281
283 293 307 311 313 317 331 337 347 349
353 359 367 373 379 383 389 397 401 409
419 421 431 433 439 443 449 457 461 463
467 479 487 491 499 503 509 521 523 541
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Content written and posted by Ken Abbott abbottsystems@gmail.com