Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician, a group of
us bright young students taking number theory discovered the names of
the smaller prime numbers.
2: The Odd Prime --
It's the only even prime, therefore is odd. QED.
3: The True Prime --
Lewis Carroll: "If I tell you three times, it's true."
31: The Arbitrary Prime --
Determined by unanimous unvote. We needed an arbitrary prime
in case the prof asked for one, and so had an election. 91
received the most votes (well, it *looks* prime) and 3+4i the
next most. However, 31 was the only candidate to receive none
at all.
Since the composite numbers are formed from primes, their qualities are
derived from those primes. So, for instance, the number 6 is "odd but
true", while the powers of 2 are all extremely odd numbers.
us bright young students taking number theory discovered the names of
the smaller prime numbers.
2: The Odd Prime --
It's the only even prime, therefore is odd. QED.
3: The True Prime --
Lewis Carroll: "If I tell you three times, it's true."
31: The Arbitrary Prime --
Determined by unanimous unvote. We needed an arbitrary prime
in case the prof asked for one, and so had an election. 91
received the most votes (well, it *looks* prime) and 3+4i the
next most. However, 31 was the only candidate to receive none
at all.
Since the composite numbers are formed from primes, their qualities are
derived from those primes. So, for instance, the number 6 is "odd but
true", while the powers of 2 are all extremely odd numbers.
Related:
- Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician,
a group of us bright young students taking number... - Quote #86
Once upon a time, when I was training to be a mathematician,
a group of us bright young students taking number theory... - Conjecture: All odd numbers are prime.
Mathematician's Proof:
3 is prime. 5 is prime. 7 is prime. By induction... - pseudoprime n.
A backgammon prime (six consecutive
occupied points) with one point missing.
This term is an esoteric pun derived from number... - Mathematician: 2 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime,
7 is prime, 11 is prime... Physicist: 2 is prime... - Several students were asked to prove that all odd integers are prime.
The first student to try to do this was a math student... - HAKMEM /hak'mem/ n.
MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972).
A legendary collection of neat mathematical and... - one-liner wars n.
A game popular among hackers who code in
the language APL (see write-only language and line noi
and/or useful routine in one line of operators chosen from APL's
exceedingly hairy primitive set.
A similar amusement was practiced among TECO hackers... - If P is prime,
is P' prime prime...
