The Fascinating World of Prime Numbers

Paijar Team

Thu, 21 Nov 2024

Primes are like the Rockstars of the number world – unique and irreplaceable! But what exactly makes a number prime?

Prime Time:

A prime number is a natural number (positive whole number) greater than 1 that has exactly two factors: 1 and itself. For example, 7 is prime because its only factors are 1 and 7. On the other hand, 12 isn't prime because it has factors like 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.

Prime Importance:

Prime numbers play a crucial role in cryptography, the science of keeping information secure. Codes and encryption rely on the difficulty of factoring large prime numbers. The bigger the prime number, the harder it is to crack the code!

Exploring the Primes:

There are infinitely many prime numbers, but finding them can be challenging. Mathematicians have developed complex algorithms to search for larger and larger primes.

Fun with Primes:

Here's a cool trick: Try this next time you're shopping and the price ends in a 5 or a 0. A number ending in 5 is only divisible by 5 and 1 (making it prime!), and a number ending in 0 is divisible by 10 (but not by 2 or 5, making it composite).

The Challenge 01:

Can you think of any other everyday applications of prime numbers? Share your ideas in the comments below!

The Challenge 02: