prime number

noun

, Mathematics.

1. a positive integer that is not divisible without remainder by any integer except itself and 1, with 1 often excluded:

   The integers 2, 3, 5, and 7 are prime numbers.

prime number

noun

1. an integer that cannot be factorized into other integers but is only divisible by itself or 1, such as 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11 Sometimes shortened toprime Compare composite number

prime number

1. A positive integer greater than 1 that can only be divided by itself and 1 without leaving a remainder. Examples of prime numbers are 7, 23, and 67.
2. Compare composite number

prime number

1. A number that cannot be divided evenly by any other number except itself and the number one; 1, 3, 5, 7, and 11 are prime numbers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of prime number¹

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

You had to realize that 1 was an allowable digit, even though it isn’t a prime number.

From FiveThirtyEight

Moreover, I learned that if the Riemann hypothesis is true, we’ll get a much stronger prime number theorem than the one known today.

From Quanta Magazine

The Oxford mathematician James Maynard, for example, regularly spends time attacking famously difficult problems and has stubbornly refused to accept defeat, instead wresting new insights from the gaps between prime numbers.

From Quanta Magazine

If it finds an even integer that can’t be summed by a pair of prime numbers, it halts.

From Quanta Magazine

For example, one of the oldest results in math is Euclid’s proof from 300 BCE that there are infinitely many prime numbers.

From Nautilus

The difficulty lies wholly with those cases where n is a prime number.

From Project Gutenberg

But then, he says, it is absolutely necessary that the basis of numeration should be a prime number.

From Project Gutenberg

Suppose the hyperbolic logarithm of the prime number 43,867 required.

From Project Gutenberg

A number (other than 1) which has no factor except itself is called a prime number, or, more briefly, a prime.

From Project Gutenberg

A number (other than 1) which is not a prime number is called a composite number.

From Project Gutenberg