Prime number

Prime redirects here.

(disambiguation).

For other uses, see Prime tors. Prime numbers give rise to various generalizations
in other mathematical domains, mainly algebra, such as
prime elements and prime ideals.

A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number

greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1
and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a
prime number is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because 1 and 5 are its only positive integer
factors, whereas 6 is composite because it has the divisors
2 and 3 in addition to 1 and 6. The fundamental theorem of arithmetic establishes the central role of primes
in number theory: any integer greater than 1 can be expressed as a product of primes that is unique up to ordering. The uniqueness in this theorem requires excluding 1
as a prime because one can include arbitrarily many instances of 1 in any factorization, e.g., 3, 1 3, 1 1 3,
etc. are all valid factorizations of 3.

1 Denition and examples

A natural number (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.) is called a
prime number (or a prime) if it has exactly two positive divisors, 1 and the number itself.[1] Natural numbers
greater than 1 that are not prime are called composite.

The property of being prime (or not) is called primality.

A simple but slow method of verifying the primality of a
given number n is known as trial division. It consists of
testing
whether n is a multiple of any integer between 2
and n . Algorithms much more ecient than trial division have been devised to test the primality of large numbers. Particularly fast methods are available for numbers
of special forms, such as Mersenne numbers. As of April
2014, the largest known prime number has 17,425,170
decimal digits.
There are innitely many primes, as demonstrated by Euclid around 300 BC. There is no known useful formula
that sets apart all of the prime numbers from composites.
However, the distribution of primes, that is to say, the statistical behaviour of primes in the large, can be modelled.
The rst result in that direction is the prime number theorem, proven at the end of the 19th century, which says
that the probability that a given, randomly chosen number n is prime is inversely proportional to its number of
digits, or to the logarithm of n.

The number 12 is not a prime, as 12 items can be placed into

3 equal-size columns of 4 each (among other ways). 11 items
cannot be all placed into several equal-size columns of more
than 1 item each without some extra items leftover (a remainder).
Therefore the number 11 is a prime.

Among the numbers 1 to 6, the numbers 2, 3, and 5 are

the prime numbers, while 1, 4, and 6 are not prime. 1
is excluded as a prime number, for reasons explained below. 2 is a prime number, since the only natural numbers
dividing it are 1 and 2. Next, 3 is prime, too: 1 and 3
do divide 3 without remainder, but 3 divided by 2 gives
remainder 1. Thus, 3 is prime. However, 4 is composite,
since 2 is another number (in addition to 1 and 4) dividing
4 without remainder:

Many questions regarding prime numbers remain open,

such as Goldbachs conjecture (that every even integer
greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes),
and the twin prime conjecture (that there are innitely
many pairs of primes whose dierence is 2). Such
questions spurred the development of various branches
4 = 2 2.
of number theory, focusing on analytic or algebraic aspects of numbers. Primes are used in several routines
in information technology, such as public-key cryptog- 5 is again prime: none of the numbers 2, 3, or 4 divide 5.
raphy, which makes use of properties such as the dif- Next, 6 is divisible by 2 or 3, since
culty of factoring large numbers into their prime fac6 = 2 3.
1

Hence, 6 is not prime. The image at the right illustrates

that 12 is not prime: 12 = 3 4. No even number greater
than 2 is prime because by denition, any such number
n has at least three distinct divisors, namely 1, 2, and
n. This implies that n is not prime. Accordingly, the
term odd prime refers to any prime number greater than
2. Similarly, when written in the usual decimal system,
all prime numbers larger than 5 end in 1, 3, 7, or 9, since
even numbers are multiples of 2 and numbers ending in
0 or 5 are multiples of 5.

FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM OF ARITHMETIC

The crucial importance of prime numbers to number theory and mathematics in general stems from the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, which states that every integer larger than 1 can be written as a product of one or
more primes in a way that is unique except for the order
of the prime factors.[2] Primes can thus be considered the
basic building blocks of the natural numbers. For example:

If n is a natural number, then 1 and n divide n without

remainder. Therefore, the condition of being a prime can As in this example, the same prime factor may occur mulalso be restated as: a number is prime if it is greater than tiple times. A decomposition:
one and if none of
2, 3, ..., n 1
divides n (without remainder). Yet another way to say the
same is: a number n > 1 is prime if it cannot be written
as a product of two integers a and b, both of which are
larger than 1:
n = a b.

n = p1 p2 ... pt
of a number n into (nitely many) prime factors p1 , p2 , ...
to pt is called prime factorization of n. The fundamental
theorem of arithmetic can be rephrased so as to say that
any factorization into primes will be identical except for
the order of the factors. So, albeit there are many prime
factorization algorithms to do this in practice for larger
numbers, they all have to yield the same result.

In other words, n is prime if n items cannot be divided up If p is a prime number and p divides a product ab of integers, then p divides a or p divides b. This proposition
into smaller equal-size groups of more than one item.
is known as Euclids lemma.[3] It is used in some proofs
The set of all primes is often denoted by P.
of the uniqueness of prime factorizations.
The rst 168 prime numbers (all the prime numbers less
than 1000) are:

2.1 Primality of one

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, 547, 557, 563, 569, 571, 577, 587,
593, 599, 601, 607, 613, 617, 619, 631, 641,
643, 647, 653, 659, 661, 673, 677, 683, 691,
701, 709, 719, 727, 733, 739, 743, 751, 757,
761, 769, 773, 787, 797, 809, 811, 821, 823,
827, 829, 839, 853, 857, 859, 863, 877, 881,
883, 887, 907, 911, 919, 929, 937, 941, 947,
953, 967, 971, 977, 983, 991, 997 (sequence
A000040 in OEIS).

Fundamental theorem of arithmetic

Main article: Fundamental theorem of arithmetic

Most early Greeks did not even consider 1 to be a

number,[4] so they could not consider it to be a prime. By
the Middle Ages and Renaissance many mathematicians
included 1 as the rst prime number.[5] In the mid-18th
century Christian Goldbach listed 1 as the rst prime in
his famous correspondence with Leonhard Euler -- who
did not agree.[6] In the 19th century many mathematicians still considered the number 1 to be a prime. For
example, Derrick Norman Lehmer's list of primes up to
10,006,721, reprinted as late as 1956,[7] started with 1 as
its rst prime.[8] Henri Lebesgue is said to be the last professional mathematician to call 1 prime.[9] By the early
20th century, mathematicians began to accept that 1 is
not a prime number, but rather forms its own special category as a unit.[10]
A large body of mathematical work would still be valid
when calling 1 a prime, but Euclids fundamental theorem of arithmetic (mentioned above) would not hold as
stated. For example, the number 15 can be factored as
3 5 and 1 3 5; if 1 were admitted as a prime, these
two presentations would be considered dierent factorizations of 15 into prime numbers, so the statement of
that theorem would have to be modied. Similarly, the
sieve of Eratosthenes would not work correctly if 1 were
considered a prime: a modied version of the sieve that
considers 1 as prime would eliminate all multiples of 1

3
(that is, all other numbers) and produce as output only
the single number 1. Furthermore, the prime numbers
have several properties that the number 1 lacks, such as
the relationship of the number to its corresponding value
of Eulers totient function or the sum of divisors function.[11][12]

History

about primes. He showed the innite series 1/2 + 1/3 +

1/5 + 1/7 + 1/11 + is divergent. In 1747 he showed that
the even perfect numbers are precisely the integers of the
form 2p1 (2p 1), where the second factor is a Mersenne
prime.
At the start of the 19th century, Legendre and Gauss independently conjectured that as x tends to innity, the
number of primes up to x is asymptotic to x/ln(x), where
ln(x) is the natural logarithm of x. Ideas of Riemann in
his 1859 paper on the zeta-function sketched a program
that would lead to a proof of the prime number theorem.
This outline was completed by Hadamard and de la Valle Poussin, who independently proved the prime number
theorem in 1896.
Proving a number is prime is not done (for large numbers)
by trial division. Many mathematicians have worked on
primality tests for large numbers, often restricted to specic number forms. This includes Ppins test for Fermat numbers (1877), Proths theorem (around 1878), the
LucasLehmer primality test (originated 1856),[13] and
the generalized Lucas primality test. More recent algorithms like APRT-CL, ECPP, and AKS work on arbitrary numbers but remain much slower.

The Sieve of Eratosthenes is a simple algorithm for nding all

prime numbers up to a specied integer. It was created in the 3rd
century BC by Eratosthenes, an ancient Greek mathematician.

For a long time, prime numbers were thought to have

extremely limited application outside of pure mathematics.[14] This changed in the 1970s when the concepts of
public-key cryptography were invented, in which prime
numbers formed the basis of the rst algorithms such as
the RSA cryptosystem algorithm.

There are hints in the surviving records of the ancient

Egyptians that they had some knowledge of prime numbers: the Egyptian fraction expansions in the Rhind papyrus, for instance, have quite dierent forms for primes
and for composites. However, the earliest surviving
records of the explicit study of prime numbers come
from the Ancient Greeks. Euclids Elements (circa 300
BC) contain important theorems about primes, including
the innitude of primes and the fundamental theorem of
arithmetic. Euclid also showed how to construct a perfect
number from a Mersenne prime. The Sieve of Eratosthenes, attributed to Eratosthenes, is a simple method to
compute primes, although the large primes found today
with computers are not generated this way.

Since 1951 all the largest known primes have been found
by computers. The search for ever larger primes has generated interest outside mathematical circles. The Great
Internet Mersenne Prime Search and other distributed
computing projects to nd large primes have become popular, while mathematicians continue to struggle with the
theory of primes.

After the Greeks, little happened with the study of prime

numbers until the 17th century. In 1640 Pierre de Fermat stated (without proof) Fermats little theorem (later
proved by Leibniz and Euler). Fermat also conjectured
n
that all numbers of the form 22 + 1 are prime (they are
called Fermat numbers) and he veried this up to n = 4 (or
216 + 1). However, the very next Fermat number 232 + 1
is composite (one of its prime factors is 641), as Euler discovered later, and in fact no further Fermat numbers are
known to be prime. The French monk Marin Mersenne
looked at primes of the form 2p 1, with p a prime. They
are called Mersenne primes in his honor.

There are innitely many prime numbers. Another way

of saying this is that the sequence

4 Number of prime numbers

Main article: Euclids theorem

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ...

of prime numbers never ends. This statement is referred

to as Euclids theorem in honor of the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, since the rst known proof for this
statement is attributed to him. Many more proofs of the
innitude of primes are known, including an analytical
proof by Euler, Goldbachs proof based on Fermat numbers,[15] Furstenbergs proof using general topology,[16]
Eulers work in number theory included many results and Kummers elegant proof.[17]

4.1

TESTING PRIMALITY AND INTEGER FACTORIZATION

5 Testing primality and integer

factorization

Euclids proof

Euclids proof (Book IX, Proposition 20[18] ) considers

any nite set S of primes. The key idea is to consider
There are various methods to determine whether a given
the product of all these numbers plus one:
number n is prime. The most basic routine, trial division, is of little practical use because of its slowness. One

group of modern primality tests is applicable to arbitrary

N =1+
p.
numbers, while more ecient tests are available for parpS
ticular numbers. Most such methods only tell whether n
Like any other natural number, N is divisible by at least is prime or not. Routines also yielding one (or all) prime
factors of n are called factorization algorithms.
one prime number (it is possible that N itself is prime).
None of the primes by which N is divisible can be members of the nite set S of primes with which we started,
because dividing N by any one of these leaves a remainder of 1. Therefore the primes by which N is divisible are
additional primes beyond the ones we started with. Thus
any nite set of primes can be extended to a larger nite
set of primes.
It is often erroneously reported that Euclid begins with
the assumption that the set initially considered contains
all prime numbers, leading to a contradiction, or that it
contains precisely the n smallest primes rather than any
arbitrary nite set of primes.[19] Today, the product of
the smallest n primes plus 1 is conventionally called the
nth Euclid number.

4.2

Eulers analytical proof

Eulers proof uses the sum of the reciprocals of primes,

S(p) =

1 1 1 1
1
+ + + + + .
2 3 5 7
p

This sum becomes larger than any arbitrary real number provided that p is big enough.[20] This shows that
there are innitely many primes, since otherwise this sum
would grow only until the biggest prime p is reached.
The growth of S(p) is quantied by Mertens second theorem.[21] For comparison, the sum

5.1 Trial division

The most basic method of checking the primality of a
given integer n is called trial division. This routine consists of dividing n by each integer m that is greater than
1 and less than or equal to the square root of n. If the
result of any of these divisions is an integer, then n is not
a prime, otherwise it is a prime. Indeed, if n = ab is
composite (with a and b
1) then one of the factors a or
b is necessarily at most n . For example, for n = 37 ,
the trial divisions are by m = 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. None of
these numbers divides 37, so 37 is prime. This routine
can be implemented
more eciently if a complete list of

primes up to n is knownthen trial divisions need to

be checked only for those m that are prime. For example,
to check the primality of 37, only three divisions are necessary (m = 2, 3, and 5), given that 4 and 6 are composite.
While a simple method, trial division quickly becomes
impractical for testing large integers because the number
of possible factors grows too rapidly as n increases. According to the prime number theorem explained
below,

the number of prime

numbers
less
than
n
is
approxi

mately given by n/ ln( n) , so the algorithm may need

up to this number of trial divisions to check the primality
of n. For n = 1020 , this number is 450 milliontoo large
for many practical applications.

5.2 Sieves
1
1
1
1
1
+
+
+

+
=
12
22
32
n2
i2
i=1
n

An algorithm yielding all primes up to a given limit, such

as required in the primes-only trial division method, is
called a prime number sieve. The oldest example, the
does not grow to innity as n goes to innity (see Basel sieve of Eratosthenes (see above), is still the most comproblem). In this sense, prime numbers occur more often monly used. The sieve of Atkin is another option. Before
lists of primes up to bounds like
than squares of natural numbers. Bruns theorem states the7advent of computers,
[22]
10
were
also
used.
that the sum of the reciprocals of twin primes,
(

) (
) (
)
1 1
1 1
1
1
+
+
+
+
+
+ =
3 5
5 7
11 13

is nite.

p prime,
p+2prime

( 5.3 Primality
)
1
1
+
,
p p +proving
2

testing versus primality

Modern primality tests for general numbers n can be

divided into two main classes, probabilistic (or Monte

5.4

Special-purpose algorithms and the largest known prime

Carlo) and deterministic algorithms. Deterministic al- 5.4 Special-purpose algorithms and the
gorithms provide a way to tell for sure whether a given
largest known prime
number is prime or not. For example, trial division is
a deterministic algorithm because, if it performed cor- Further information: List of prime numbers
rectly, it will always identify a prime number as prime In addition to the aforementioned tests applying to any
and a composite number as composite. Probabilistic algorithms are normally faster, but do not completely prove
that a number is prime. These tests rely on testing a given
number in a partly random way. For example, a given
test might pass all the time if applied to a prime number,
but pass only with probability p if applied to a composite number. If we repeat the test n times and pass every
time, then the probability that our number is composite
is 1/(1-p)n , which decreases exponentially with the number of tests, so we can be as sure as we like (though never
perfectly sure) that the number is prime. On the other
hand, if the test ever fails, then we know that the number
is composite.
A particularly simple example of a probabilistic test is the
Fermat primality test, which relies on the fact (Fermats
little theorem) that np n (mod p) for any n if p is a prime
number. If we have a number b that we want to test for
primality, then we work out nb (mod b) for a random value
of n as our test. A aw with this test is that there are some
composite numbers (the Carmichael numbers) that satisfy the Fermat identity even though they are not prime, so
the test has no way of distinguishing between prime numbers and Carmichael numbers. Carmichael numbers are
substantially rarer than prime numbers, though, so this
test can be useful for practical purposes. More powerful extensions of the Fermat primality test, such as the
Baillie-PSW, Miller-Rabin, and Solovay-Strassen tests,
are guaranteed to fail at least some of the time when applied to a composite number.

Construction of a regular pentagon. 5 is a Fermat prime.

natural number n, a number of much more ecient primality tests is available for special numbers. For example, to run Lucas primality test requires the knowledge
of the prime factors of n 1, while the LucasLehmer
primality test needs the prime factors of n + 1 as input.
For example, these tests can be applied to check whether
n! 1 = 1 2 3 ... n 1

Deterministic algorithms do not erroneously report composite numbers as prime. In practice, the fastest such
method is known as elliptic curve primality proving. Analyzing its run time is based on heuristic arguments, as
opposed to the rigorously proven complexity of the more
recent AKS primality test. Deterministic methods are
typically slower than probabilistic ones, so the latter ones
are typically applied rst before a more time-consuming
deterministic routine is employed.

are prime. Prime numbers of this form are known as

factorial primes. Other primes where either p + 1 or
p 1 is of a particular shape include the Sophie Germain primes (primes of the form 2p + 1 with p prime),
primorial primes, Fermat primes and Mersenne primes,
that is, prime numbers that are of the form 2p 1, where
p is an arbitrary prime. The LucasLehmer test is particularly fast for numbers of this form. This is why the
largest known prime has almost always been a Mersenne
The following table lists a number of prime tests. The
prime since the dawn of electronic computers.
running time is given in terms of n, the number to be
tested and, for probabilistic algorithms, the number k of Fermat primes are of the form
tests performed. Moreover, is an arbitrarily small posk
itive number, and log is the logarithm to an unspecied
Fk = 22 + 1,
base. The big O notation means that, for example, elliptic
curve primality proving requires a time that is bounded by with k an arbitrary natural number. They are named after
a factor (not depending on n, but on ) times log5+ (n).
Pierre de Fermat who conjectured that all such numbers
Fk are prime. This was based on the evidence of the rst
ve numbers in this series3, 5, 17, 257, and 65,537
being prime. However, F 5 is composite and so are all
other Fermat numbers that have been veried as of 2015.
A regular n-gon is constructible using straightedge and
compass if and only if

DISTRIBUTION

n = 2i m

with coprime integers a and b take innitely many prime

values. Stronger forms of the theorem state that the sum
where m is a product of any number of distinct Fermat of the reciprocals of these prime values diverges, and that
primes and i is any natural number, including zero.
dierent such polynomials with the same b have approxThe following table gives the largest known primes of imately the same proportions of primes.
the mentioned types. Some of these primes have been The corresponding question for quadratic polynomials is
found using distributed computing. In 2009, the Great less well-understood.
Internet Mersenne Prime Search project was awarded a
US$100,000 prize for rst discovering a prime with at
least 10 million digits.[23] The Electronic Frontier Foun- 6.1 Formulas for primes
dation also oers $150,000 and $250,000 for primes
with at least 100 million digits and 1 billion digits, Main article: formulas for primes
respectively.[24] Some of the largest primes not known to
have any particular form (that is, no simple formula such There is no known ecient formula for primes. For exas that of Mersenne primes) have been found by taking a ample, Mills theorem and a theorem of Wright assert that
piece of semi-random binary data, converting it to a num- there are real constants A>1 and such that
ber n, multiplying it by 256k for some positive integer
k, and searching for possible primes within the interval

n
2
[256k n + 1, 256k (n + 1) 1].
3
...2
A
and 2
are prime for any natural number n. Here represents
the oor function, i.e., largest integer not greater than the
number
in question. The latter formula can be shown
Main article: Integer factorization
using Bertrands postulate (proven rst by Chebyshev),
which states that there always exists at least one prime
Given a composite integer n, the task of providing one number p with n < p < 2n 2, for any natural number n >
(or all) prime factors is referred to as factorization of 3. However, computing A or requires the knowledge of
n. Elliptic curve factorization is an algorithm relying on innitely many primes to begin with.[29] Another formula
arithmetic on an elliptic curve.
is based on Wilsons theorem and generates the number
2 many times and all other primes exactly once.

5.5

Integer factorization

There is no non-constant polynomial, even in several variables, that takes only prime values. However, there is a set
of Diophantine equations in 9 variables and one parameIn 1975, number theorist Don Zagier commented that ter with the following property: the parameter is prime if
primes both
and only if the resulting system of equations has a solution over the natural numbers. This can be used to obtain
grow like weeds among the natural numa single formula with the property that all its positive valbers, seeming to obey no other law than that
ues are prime.[30]
of chance [but also] exhibit stunning regularity
[and] that there are laws governing their behav6.2 Number of prime numbers below a
ior, and that they obey these laws with almost
military precision.[28]
given number

Distribution

The distribution of primes in the large, such as the ques- Main articles: Prime number theorem and Primetion how many primes are smaller than a given, large counting function
threshold, is described by the prime number theorem, but The prime counting function (n) is dened as the numno ecient formula for the n-th prime is known.
ber of primes not greater than n. For example (11) = 5,
There are arbitrarily long sequences of consecutive non- since there are ve primes less than or equal to 11. There
primes, as for every positive integer n the n consecutive are known algorithms to compute exact values of (n)
integers from (n + 1)! + 2 to (n + 1)! + n + 1 (inclusive) faster than it would be possible to compute each prime
are all composite (as (n + 1)! + k is divisible by k for k up to n. The prime number theorem states that (n) is
approximately given by
between 2 and n + 1 ).
Dirichlets theorem on arithmetic progressions, in its basic form, asserts that linear polynomials

p(n) = a + bn

n
,
ln n
in the sense that the ratio of (n) and the right hand fraction approaches 1 when n grows to innity. This implies
(n)

6.4

Prime values of quadratic polynomials

7
in red. The rows (=progressions) starting with a = 3,
6, or 9 contain at most one prime number. In all other
rows (a = 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8) there are innitely many
prime numbers. What is more, the primes are distributed
equally among those rows in the long runthe density of
all primes congruent a modulo 9 is 1/6.

8000

6000

4000

2000

20 000

40 000

60 000

80 000

100 000

A chart depicting (n) (blue), n / ln (n) (green) and Li(n) (red)

that the likelihood that a number less than n is prime is

(approximately) inversely proportional to the number of
digits in n. A more accurate estimate for (n) is given by Prime numbers (highlighted in red) in arithmetic progression
modulo 9.
the oset logarithmic integral
The GreenTao theorem shows that there are arbitrarily
long arithmetic progressions consisting of primes.[32] An
Li(n) =
odd prime p is expressible as the sum of two squares, p
2
= x2 + y2 , exactly if p is congruent 1 modulo 4 (Fermats
The prime number theorem also implies estimates for the theorem on sums of two squares).
size of the n-th prime number pn (i.e., p1 = 2, p2 = 3,
etc.): up to a bounded factor, pn grows like n log(n).[31]
In particular, the prime gaps, i.e. the dierences pn pn 6.4 Prime values of quadratic polynomials
of two consecutive primes, become arbitrarily large. This
latter statement can also be seen in a more elementary way
by noting that the sequence n! + 2, n! + 3, , n! + n (for
the notation n! read factorial) consists of n 1 composite
numbers, for any natural number n.

6.3

dt
.
ln t

Arithmetic progressions

An arithmetic progression is the set of natural numbers

that give the same remainder when divided by some xed
number q called modulus. For example,
3, 12, 21, 30, 39, ...,
is an arithmetic progression modulo q = 9. Except for 3,
none of these numbers is prime, since 3 + 9n = 3(1 + 3n)
so that the remaining numbers in this progression are all
composite. (In general terms, all prime numbers above q
are of the form q#n + m, where 0 < m < q#, and m has
The Ulam spiral. Red pixels show prime numbers. Primes of the
no prime factor q.) Thus, the progression
2
form 4n 2n + 41 are highlighted in blue.

a, a + q, a + 2q, a + 3q,
can have innitely many primes only when a and q are
coprime, i.e., their greatest common divisor is one. If
this necessary condition is satised, Dirichlets theorem on
arithmetic progressions asserts that the progression contains innitely many primes. The picture below illustrates
this with q = 9: the numbers are wrapped around as
soon as a multiple of 9 is passed. Primes are highlighted

Euler noted that the function

n2 + n + 41
gives prime numbers for 0 n < 40,[33][34] a fact leading into deep algebraic number theory, more specically
Heegner numbers. For bigger n, it does take composite values. The Hardy-Littlewood conjecture F makes

OPEN QUESTIONS

an asymptotic prediction about the density of primes The zeta function is closely related to prime numbers. For
among the values of quadratic polynomials (with integer example, the aforementioned fact that there are innitely
coecients a, b, and c)
many primes can also be seen using the zeta function: if
there were only nitely many primes then (1) would have
a nite value. However, the harmonic series 1 + 1/2 +
f (n) = ax2 + bx + c
1/3 + 1/4 + ... diverges (i.e., exceeds any given number),
in terms of Li(n) and the coecients a, b, and c. How- so there must be innitely many primes. Another examever, progress has proved hard to come by: no quadratic ple of the richness of the zeta function and a glimpse of
polynomial (with a 0) is known to take innitely many modern algebraic number theory is the following identity
prime values. The Ulam spiral depicts all natural num- (Basel problem), due to Euler,
bers in a spiral-like way. Surprisingly, prime numbers
cluster on certain diagonals and not others, suggesting that

1
2
some quadratic polynomials take prime values more often (2) =
.
=
1 p2
6
than other ones.
p

7
7.1

Open questions

The reciprocal of (2), 6/2 , is the probability that two

numbers selected at random are relatively prime.[35][36]
The unproven Riemann hypothesis, dating from 1859,

Zeta function and the Riemann hy- states that except for s = 2, 4, ..., all zeroes of the function have real part equal to 1/2. The connection to
pothesis

prime numbers is that it essentially says that the primes

are as regularly distributed as possible. From a physiMain article: Riemann hypothesis
The Riemann zeta function (s) is dened as an innite cal viewpoint, it roughly states that the irregularity in the
distribution of primes only comes from random noise.
From a mathematical viewpoint, it roughly states that the
asymptotic distribution of primes (about x/log x of numbers less than x are primes, the prime number theorem)
also holds for much shorter intervals of length about the
square root of x (for intervals near x). This hypothesis is
generally believed to be correct. In particular, the simplest assumption is that primes should have no signicant
irregularities without good reason.

7.2 Other conjectures

Further information: Category:Conjectures about prime
numbers
In addition to the Riemann hypothesis, many more conjectures revolving about primes have been posed. Often
having an elementary formulation, many of these conPlot of the zeta function (s). At s=1, the function has a pole, jectures have withstood a proof for decades: all four of
that is to say, it tends to innity.
Landaus problems from 1912 are still unsolved. One of
them is Goldbachs conjecture, which asserts that every
sum
even integer n greater than 2 can be written as a sum
of two primes. As of February 2011, this conjecture

has been veried for all numbers up to n = 2 1017 .[37]

1
(s) =
,
Weaker statements than this have been proven, for exns
n=1
ample Vinogradovs theorem says that every suciently
where s is a complex number with real part bigger than large odd integer can be written as a sum of three primes.
1. It is a consequence of the fundamental theorem of Chens theorem says that every suciently large even
arithmetic that this sum agrees with the innite product number can be expressed as the sum of a prime and a
semiprime, the product of two primes. Also, any even
integer can be written as the sum of six primes.[38] The

1
branch of number theory studying such questions is called
.
1 ps
additive number theory.
pprime

8.1

Arithmetic modulo a prime and nite elds

Other conjectures deal with the question whether an innity of prime numbers subject to certain constraints exists.
It is conjectured that there are innitely many Fibonacci
primes[39] and innitely many Mersenne primes, but not
Fermat primes.[40] It is not known whether or not there
are an innite number of Wieferich primes and of prime
Euclid numbers.
A third type of conjectures concerns aspects of the distribution of primes. It is conjectured that there are innitely
many twin primes, pairs of primes with dierence 2 (twin
prime conjecture). Polignacs conjecture is a strengthening of that conjecture, it states that for every positive
integer n, there are innitely many pairs of consecutive
primes that dier by 2n.[41] It is conjectured there are
innitely many primes of the form n2 + 1.[42] These conjectures are special cases of the broad Schinzels hypothesis H. Brocards conjecture says that there are always
at least four primes between the squares of consecutive
primes greater than 2. Legendres conjecture states that
there is a prime number between n2 and (n + 1)2 for every
positive integer n. It is implied by the stronger Cramrs
conjecture.

{0, 1, 2, . . . , n 1},
where n is a xed natural number called modulus. Calculating sums, dierences and products is done as usual,
but whenever a negative number or a number greater than
n 1 occurs, it gets replaced by the remainder after division by n. For instance, for n = 7, the sum 3 + 5 is 1
instead of 8, since 8 divided by 7 has remainder 1. This
is referred to by saying 3 + 5 is congruent to 1 modulo
7 and is denoted

3+51

(mod 7).

Similarly, 6 + 1 0 (mod 7), 2 5 4 (mod 7), since

3 + 7 = 4, and 3 4 5 (mod 7) as 12 has remainder 5. Standard properties of addition and multiplication
familiar from the integers remain valid in modular arithmetic. In the parlance of abstract algebra, the above set
of integers, which is also denoted Z/nZ, is therefore a
commutative ring for any n. Division, however, is not in
general possible in this setting. For example, for n = 6,
the equation

Applications

For a long time, number theory in general, and the study

of prime numbers in particular, was seen as the canonical example of pure mathematics, with no applications
outside of the self-interest of studying the topic with
the exception of use of prime numbered gear teeth to
distribute wear evenly. In particular, number theorists
such as British mathematician G. H. Hardy prided themselves on doing work that had absolutely no military
signicance.[43] However, this vision was shattered in the
1970s, when it was publicly announced that prime numbers could be used as the basis for the creation of public
key cryptography algorithms. Prime numbers are also
used for hash tables and pseudorandom number generators.
Some rotor machines were designed with a dierent number of pins on each rotor, with the number of pins on any
one rotor either prime, or coprime to the number of pins
on any other rotor. This helped generate the full cycle of
possible rotor positions before repeating any position.
The International Standard Book Numbers work with a
check digit, which exploits the fact that 11 is a prime.

8.1

3x2

(mod 6),

a solution x of which would be an analogue of 2/3, cannot

be solved, as one can see by calculating 3 0, ..., 3 5
modulo 6. The distinctive feature of prime numbers is
the following: division is possible in modular arithmetic
if and only if n is a prime. Equivalently, n is prime if and
only if all integers m satisfying 2 m n 1 are coprime
to n, i.e. their only common divisor is one. Indeed, for n
= 7, the equation

3 x 2 (mod 7),
has a unique solution, x = 3. Because of this, for any
prime p, Z/pZ (also denoted Fp) is called a eld or, more
specically, a nite eld since it contains nitely many,
namely p, elements.
A number of theorems can be derived from inspecting Fp
in this abstract way. For example, Fermats little theorem,
stating

ap1 1(mod p)

Arithmetic modulo a prime and nite

for any integer a not divisible by p, may be proved using
elds
these notions. This implies

Main article: Modular arithmetic

Modular arithmetic modies usual arithmetic by only using the numbers

p1

a=1

ap1 (p 1) 1 1 (mod p).

10

9 GENERALIZATIONS

Giugas conjecture says that this equation is also a sucient condition for p to be prime. Another consequence
of Fermats little theorem is the following: if p is a prime
number other than 2 and 5, 1 /p is always a recurring decimal, whose period is p 1 or a divisor of p 1. The fraction 1 /p expressed likewise in base q (rather than base 10)
has similar eect, provided that p is not a prime factor of
q. Wilsons theorem says that an integer p > 1 is prime
if and only if the factorial (p 1)! + 1 is divisible by p.
Moreover, an integer n > 4 is composite if and only if (n
1)! is divisible by n.

up to 2% higher than during outbreaks of 13- and 17year cicadas.[46] Though small, this advantage appears to
have been enough to drive natural selection in favour of a
prime-numbered life-cycle for these insects.
There is speculation that the zeros of the zeta function
are connected to the energy levels of complex quantum
systems.[47]

9 Generalizations
The concept of prime number is so important that it has

8.2

Other mathematical occurrences of been generalized in dierent ways in various branches of

mathematics. Generally, prime indicates minimality or
primes

Many mathematical domains make great use of prime

numbers. An example from the theory of nite groups
are the Sylow theorems: if G is a nite group and pn is
the highest power of the prime p that divides the order of
G, then G has a subgroup of order pn . Also, any group of
prime order is cyclic (Lagranges theorem).

8.3

Public-key cryptography

Main article: Public key cryptography

Several public-key cryptography algorithms, such as RSA
and the DieHellman key exchange, are based on large
prime numbers (for example 512 bit primes are frequently used for RSA and 1024 bit primes are typical for
DieHellman.). RSA relies on the assumption that it
is much easier (i.e., more ecient) to perform the multiplication of two (large) numbers x and y than to calculate x and y (assumed coprime) if only the product xy is
known. The DieHellman key exchange relies on the
fact that there are ecient algorithms for modular exponentiation, while the reverse operation the discrete logarithm is thought to be a hard problem.

8.4

Prime numbers in nature

The evolutionary strategy used by cicadas of the genus

Magicicada make use of prime numbers.[44] These insects
spend most of their lives as grubs underground. They
only pupate and then emerge from their burrows after 7,
13 or 17 years, at which point they y about, breed, and
then die after a few weeks at most. The logic for this is
believed to be that the prime number intervals between
emergences make it very dicult for predators to evolve
that could specialize as predators on Magicicadas.[45] If
Magicicadas appeared at a non-prime number intervals,
say every 12 years, then predators appearing every 2, 3,
4, 6, or 12 years would be sure to meet them. Over a
200-year period, average predator populations during hypothetical outbreaks of 14- and 15-year cicadas would be

indecomposability, in an appropriate sense. For example, the prime eld is the smallest subeld of a eld F
containing both 0 and 1. It is either Q or the nite eld
with p elements, whence the name.[48] Often a second,
additional meaning is intended by using the word prime,
namely that any object can be, essentially uniquely, decomposed into its prime components. For example, in
knot theory, a prime knot is a knot that is indecomposable
in the sense that it cannot be written as the knot sum of
two nontrivial knots. Any knot can be uniquely expressed
as a connected sum of prime knots.[49] Prime models and
prime 3-manifolds are other examples of this type.

9.1 Prime elements in rings

Main articles: Prime element and Irreducible element
Prime numbers give rise to two more general concepts
that apply to elements of any commutative ring R, an
algebraic structure where addition, subtraction and multiplication are dened: prime elements and irreducible elements. An element p of R is called prime element if it is
neither zero nor a unit (i.e., does not have a multiplicative
inverse) and satises the following requirement: given x
and y in R such that p divides the product xy, then p divides x or y. An element is irreducible if it is not a unit and
cannot be written as a product of two ring elements that
are not units. In the ring Z of integers, the set of prime
elements equals the set of irreducible elements, which is

{. . . , 11, 7, 5, 3, 2, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, . . . } .
In any ring R, any prime element is irreducible. The converse does not hold in general, but does hold for unique
factorization domains.
The fundamental theorem of arithmetic continues to hold
in unique factorization domains. An example of such a
domain is the Gaussian integers Z[i], that is, the set of
complex numbers of the form a + bi where i denotes
the imaginary unit and a and b are arbitrary integers. Its
prime elements are known as Gaussian primes. Not every

11
prime (in Z) is a Gaussian prime: in the bigger ring Z[i],
2 factors into the product of the two Gaussian primes (1 +
i) and (1 i). Rational primes (i.e. prime elements in Z)
of the form 4k + 3 are Gaussian primes, whereas rational
primes of the form 4k + 1 are not.

9.2

Prime ideals

Main article: Prime ideals

In ring theory, the notion of number is generally replaced
with that of ideal. Prime ideals, which generalize prime
elements in the sense that the principal ideal generated by
a prime element is a prime ideal, are an important tool and
object of study in commutative algebra, algebraic number
theory and algebraic geometry. The prime ideals of the
ring of integers are the ideals (0), (2), (3), (5), (7), (11),
The fundamental theorem of arithmetic generalizes to
the LaskerNoether theorem, which expresses every ideal
in a Noetherian commutative ring as an intersection of
primary ideals, which are the appropriate generalizations
of prime powers.[50]
Prime ideals are the points of algebro-geometric objects,
via the notion of the spectrum of a ring.[51] Arithmetic geometry also benets from this notion, and many concepts
exist in both geometry and number theory. For example,
factorization or ramication of prime ideals when lifted
to an extension eld, a basic problem of algebraic number theory, bears some resemblance with ramication
in geometry. Such ramication questions occur even in
number-theoretic questions solely concerned with integers. For example, prime ideals in the ring of integers of
quadratic number elds can be used in proving quadratic
reciprocity, a statement that concerns the solvability of
quadratic equations

valuation yields a topology on K, and two valuations are

called equivalent if they yield the same topology. A prime
of K (sometimes called a place of K) is an equivalence
class of valuations. For example, the p-adic valuation of
a rational number q is dened to be the integer vp(q), such
that
r
q = pvp (q) ,
s
where both r and s are not divisible by p. For example,
v3 (18/7) = 2. The p-adic norm is dened as[nb 1]
|q|p := pvp (q) .
In particular, this norm gets smaller when a number is
multiplied by p, in sharp contrast to the usual absolute
value (also referred to as the innite prime). While
completing Q (roughly, lling the gaps) with respect to
the absolute value yields the eld of real numbers, completing with respect to the p-adic norm ||p yields the eld
of p-adic numbers.[55] These are essentially all possible
ways to complete Q, by Ostrowskis theorem. Certain
arithmetic questions related to Q or more general global
elds may be transferred back and forth to the completed
(or local) elds. This local-global principle again underlines the importance of primes to number theory.

10 In the arts and literature

Prime numbers have inuenced many artists and writers.

The French composer Olivier Messiaen used prime numbers to create ametrical music through natural phenomena. In works such as La Nativit du Seigneur (1935) and
Quatre tudes de rythme (194950), he simultaneously
employs motifs with lengths given by dierent prime
numbers to create unpredictable rhythms: the primes 41,
43, 47 and 53 appear in the third tude, Neumes rythx2 p ( modq),
miques. According to Messiaen this way of composing
where x is an integer and p and q are (usual) prime was inspired by the movements of nature, movements of
numbers.[52] Early attempts to prove Fermats Last Theo- free and unequal durations.[56]
rem climaxed when Kummer introduced regular primes,
In his science ction novel Contact, NASA scientist Carl
primes satisfying a certain requirement concerning the
Sagan suggested that prime numbers could be used as
failure of unique factorization in the ring consisting of
a means of communicating with aliens, an idea that he
expressions
had rst developed informally with American astronomer
Frank Drake in 1975.[57] In the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, the
a0 + a1 + + ap1 p1 ,
narrator arranges the sections of the story by consecutive
prime numbers.[58]
where a0 , ..., ap1 are integers and is a complex number
Many lms, such as Cube, Sneakers, The Mirror Has
such that p = 1.[53]
Two Faces and A Beautiful Mind reect a popular
fascination with the mysteries of prime numbers and
cryptography.[59] Prime numbers are used as a metaphor
9.3 Valuations
for loneliness and isolation in the Paolo Giordano novel
Valuation theory studies certain functions from a eld K The Solitude of Prime Numbers, in which they are porto the real numbers R called valuations.[54] Every such trayed as outsiders among integers.[60]

12

11

12 NOTES

See also

AdlemanPomeranceRumely primality test

Bonses inequality

[9] Derbyshire, John (2003), The Prime Number Theorem,

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, Washington, D.C.: Joseph
Henry Press, p. 33, ISBN 978-0-309-08549-6, OCLC
249210614

Brun sieve

[10] https://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/one.html

Burnside theorem

[11] "Arguments for and against the primality of 1".

Chebotarevs density theorem

Chinese remainder theorem
Cullen number

[12] Why is the number one not prime?"

[13] The Largest Known Prime by Year: A Brief History
Prime Curios!: 1701405727 (39-digits)

Prime k-tuple

[14] For instance, Beiler writes that number theorist Ernst

Kummer loved his ideal numbers, closely related to the
primes, because they had not soiled themselves with any
practical applications, and Katz writes that Edmund Landau, known for his work on the distribution of primes,
loathed practical applications of mathematics, and for
this reason avoided subjects such as geometry that had
already shown themselves to be useful. Beiler, Albert
H. (1966), Recreations in the Theory of Numbers: The
Queen of Mathematics Entertains, Dover, p. 2, ISBN
9780486210964. Katz, Shaul (2004), Berlin roots
Zionist incarnation: the ethos of pure mathematics and the
beginnings of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Science in Context 17
(1-2): 199234, doi:10.1017/S0269889704000092, MR
2089305.

Primon gas

[15] Letter in Latin from Goldbach to Euler, July 1730.

Quadratic residuosity problem

[16] Furstenberg 1955

RSA number

[17] Ribenboim 2004, p. 4

Smooth number

[18] James Williamson (translator and commentator), The Elements of Euclid, With Dissertations, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1782, page 63, English translation of Euclids proof

Illegal prime
List of prime numbers
Mersenne prime
Multiplicative number theory
Number eld sieve
Pepins test
Practical number

Super-prime
Woodall number

12

Notes

[1] Some sources also put |q|p := evp (q) . .

[19] Hardy, Michael; Woodgold, Catherine (2009). Prime

Simplicity. Mathematical Intelligencer 31 (4): 4452.
doi:10.1007/s00283-009-9064-8.
[20] Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Introduction to Analytic Number
Theory, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 9780-387-90163-3, Section 1.6, Theorem 1.13
[21] Apostol 1976, Section 4.8, Theorem 4.12

[1] Dudley, Underwood (1978), Elementary number theory

(2nd ed.), W. H. Freeman and Co., ISBN 978-0-71670076-0, p. 10, section 2
[2] Dudley 1978, Section 2, Theorem 2
[3] Dudley 1978, Section 2, Lemma 5
[4] See, for example, David E. Joyces commentary on
Euclids Elements, Book VII, denitions 1 and 2.
[5] https://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/one.html
[6] Weisstein, Eric W., Goldbach Conjecture, MathWorld
[7] Riesel 1994, p. 36
[8] Conway & Guy 1996, pp. 129130

[22] (Lehmer 1909).

[23] Record 12-Million-Digit Prime Number Nets $100,000
Prize. Electronic Frontier Foundation. October 14,
2009. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
[24] EFF Cooperative Computing Awards. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
[25] Chris K. Caldwell. The Top Twenty:
Primes.utm.edu. Retrieved 2013-02-05.

Factorial.

[26] Chris K. Caldwell. The Top Twenty: Primorial.

Primes.utm.edu. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
[27] Chris K. Caldwell. The Top Twenty: Twin Primes.
Primes.utm.edu. Retrieved 2013-02-05.

13

[28] Havil 2003, p. 171

[29] https://books.google.com/books?id=oLKlk5o6WroC&
pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 15
[30] Matiyasevich, Yuri V. (1999), Formulas for Prime Numbers, in Tabachnikov, Serge, Kvant Selecta: Algebra and
Analysis, II, American Mathematical Society, pp. 1324,
ISBN 978-0-8218-1915-9.
[31] (Tom M. Apostol 1976), Section 4.6, Theorem 4.7
[32] (Ben Green & Terence Tao 2008).
[33] Hua (2009), pp. 176177"
[34] See list of values, calculated by Wolfram Alpha
[35] Caldwell, Chris.
What is the probability that
gcd(n,m)=1?". The Prime Pages. Retrieved 201309-06.
[36] C. S. Ogilvy & J. T. Anderson Excursions in Number Theory, pp. 2935, Dover Publications Inc., 1988 ISBN 0486-25778-9
[37] Toms Oliveira e Silva (2011-04-09). Goldbach conjecture verication. Ieeta.pt. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
[38] Ramar, O. (1995), On nirel'mans constant, Annali
della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Scienze.
Serie IV 22 (4): 645706, retrieved 2008-08-22.
[39] Caldwell, Chris, The Top Twenty: Lucas Number at The
Prime Pages.
[40] E.g., see Guy 1981, problem A3, pp. 78
[41] Tattersall, J.J. (2005), Elementary number theory in nine
chapters, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-52185014-8, p. 112
[42] Weisstein, Eric W., Landaus Problems, MathWorld.
[43] Hardy 1940 No one has yet discovered any warlike purpose to be served by the theory of numbers or relativity, and it seems unlikely that anyone will do so for many
years.
[44] Goles, E.; Schulz, O.; Markus, M. (2001). Prime number
selection of cycles in a predator-prey model. Complexity
6 (4): 3338. doi:10.1002/cplx.1040.
[45] Paulo R. A. Campos, Viviane M. de Oliveira, Ronaldo
Giro, and Douglas S. Galvo. (2004), Emergence
of Prime Numbers as the Result of Evolutionary
Strategy, Physical Review Letters 93 (9): 098107,
arXiv:q-bio/0406017, Bibcode:2004PhRvL..93i8107C,
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.098107.
[46] Invasion of the Brood. The Economist. May 6, 2004.
Retrieved 2006-11-26.
[47] Ivars Peterson (June 28, 1999). The Return of Zeta.
MAA Online. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
[48] Lang, Serge (2002), Algebra, Graduate Texts in Mathematics 211, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN
978-0-387-95385-4, MR 1878556, Section II.1, p. 90

[49] Schubert, H. Die eindeutige Zerlegbarkeit eines Knotens

in Primknoten. S.-B Heidelberger Akad. Wiss. Math.Nat. Kl. 1949 (1949), 57104.
[50] Eisenbud 1995, section 3.3.
[51] Shafarevich, Basic Algebraic Geometry volume 2
(Schemes and Complex Manifolds), p. 5, section V.1
[52] Neukirch, Algebraic Number theory, p. 50, Section I.8
[53] Neukirch, Algebraic Number theory, p. 38, Section I.7
[54] Endler, Valuation Theory, p. 1
[55] Gouvea: p-adic numbers: an introduction, Chapter 3, p.
43
[56] Hill, ed. 1995
[57] Carl Pomerance, Prime Numbers and the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Retrieved on December 22,
2007
[58] Mark Sarvas, Book Review: The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-Time, at The Modern Word, Retrieved
on March 30, 2012
[59] The music of primes, Marcus du Sautoy's selection of
lms featuring prime numbers.
[60] Introducing Paolo Giordano. Books Quarterly.

13 References
Apostol, Thomas M. (1976), Introduction to Analytic Number Theory, New York: Springer, ISBN 0387-90163-9
Conway, John Horton; Guy, Richard K. (1996), The
Book of Numbers, New York: Copernicus, ISBN
978-0-387-97993-9
Crandall, Richard; Pomerance, Carl (2005), Prime
Numbers: A Computational Perspective (2nd ed.),
Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0387-25282-7
Derbyshire, John (2003), Prime obsession, Joseph
Henry Press, Washington, DC, ISBN 978-0-30908549-6, MR 1968857
Eisenbud, David (1995), Commutative algebra,
Graduate Texts in Mathematics 150, Berlin, New
York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-94268-1,
MR 1322960
Fraleigh, John B. (1976), A First Course In Abstract
Algebra (2nd ed.), Reading: Addison-Wesley, ISBN
0-201-01984-1
Furstenberg, Harry (1955), On the innitude
of primes, The American Mathematical Monthly
(Mathematical Association of America) 62 (5):
353, doi:10.2307/2307043, JSTOR 2307043

14
Green, Ben; Tao, Terence (2008), The
primes contain arbitrarily long arithmetic
progressions, Annals of Mathematics 167
(2):
481547,
arXiv:math.NT/0404188,
doi:10.4007/annals.2008.167.481
Gowers, Timothy (2002), Mathematics: A Very
Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN
978-0-19-285361-5
Guy, Richard K. (1981), Unsolved Problems in
Number Theory, Berlin, New York: SpringerVerlag, ISBN 978-0-387-90593-8
Havil, Julian (2003), Gamma: Exploring Eulers
Constant, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0691-09983-5

14

EXTERNAL LINKS

Sabbagh, Karl (2003), The Riemann hypothesis, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, ISBN 978-0374-25007-2, MR 1979664
du Sautoy, Marcus (2003), The music of the primes,
HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 978-0-06-6210704, MR 2060134

14 External links
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), Prime number,
Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 9781-55608-010-4
Caldwell,
Chris,
primes.utm.edu.

The

Prime

Pages

at

Hardy, Godfrey Harold (1908), A Course of Pure

Mathematics, Cambridge University Press, ISBN
978-0-521-09227-2

Hardy, Godfrey Harold (1940), A Mathematicians

Apology, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521-42706-7

An Introduction to Analytic Number Theory, by Ilan

Vardi and Cyril Banderier

Herstein, I. N. (1964), Topics In Algebra, Waltham:

Blaisdell Publishing Company, ISBN 9781114541016

Prime Numbers on In Our Time at the BBC.

Plus teacher and student package: prime numbers

from Plus, the free online mathematics magazine
produced by the Millennium Mathematics Project at
the University of Cambridge.

Hill, Peter Jensen, ed. (1995), The Messiaen com14.1

panion, Portland, Or: Amadeus Press, ISBN 978-0931340-95-6
Hua, L. K. (2009), Additive Theory of Prime Numbers, Translations of Mathematical Monographs 13,
AMS Bookstore, ISBN 978-0-8218-4942-2
Lehmer, D. H. (1909), Factor table for the rst ten
millions containing the smallest factor of every number not divisible by 2, 3, 5, or 7 between the limits 0
and 10017000, Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington
McCoy, Neal H. (1968), Introduction To Modern Algebra, Revised Edition, Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
LCCN 68-15225
Narkiewicz, Wladyslaw (2000), The development of
prime number theory: from Euclid to Hardy and
Littlewood, Springer Monographs in Mathematics,
Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3540-66289-1
Ribenboim, Paulo (2004), The little book of bigger
primes, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN
978-0-387-20169-6
Riesel, Hans (1994), Prime numbers and computer methods for factorization, Basel, Switzerland:
Birkhuser, ISBN 978-0-8176-3743-9

Prime number generators and calculators

Prime Number Checker identies the smallest prime

factor of a number.
Fast Online primality test with factorization makes
use of the Elliptic Curve Method (up to thousanddigits numbers, requires Java).
Huge database of prime numbers
Prime Numbers up to 1 trillion

15

15
15.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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15.2

Images

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