How many prime numbers are there of the form: where is a natural number and is a two digit number whose digits are given by .
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It’s actually a proof question, so it wasn’t meant to be posed the way I did it. F i r s t l y , N = 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 . . . 1 0 1 . C o n s i d e r t h e c a s e o f 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 . I t h a s a n e v e n n u m b e r o f o n e s a n d i t c a n b e w r i t t e n a s 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 + 1 0 1 . S i m i l a r l y , o n e c a n e x t e n d i t t o a n y N w i t h a n e v e n n u m b e r o f o n e s . S o i t c a n n o t b e c o m p o s i t e . T r y a f e w t o c o n v i n c e y o u r s e l f . N o w , w h e n t h e n u m b e r o f o n e s i s o d d , a s i n t h e c a s e o f 1 0 1 0 1 , y o u c a n s e e t h a t i t c a n b e w r i t t e n a s ∑ i = 0 2 n 1 0 2 i , w h e r e n i s a n y n a t u r a l n u m b e r . T h i s n u m b e r h a s 2 n + 1 o n e s . T h e n u m b e r c a n b e e x p r e s s e d a s 9 9 1 0 4 n + 2 − 1 . 1 0 4 n + 2 − 1 = ( 1 0 2 n + 1 − 1 ) ( 1 0 2 n + 1 + 1 ) . N o w , ( 1 0 2 n + 1 − 1 ) / 9 = 1 1 1 1 . . . . 1 1 1 w i t h 2 n + 1 o n e s a n d ( 1 0 2 n + 1 + 1 ) i s d i v i s i b l e b y 1 1 . S o , N i s d i v i s i b l e b y 1 1 1 1 . . . 2 n + 1 o n e s . H e n c e i t i s n o t p r i m e . ∴ 1 0 1 i s t h e o n l y p r i m e t h a t c a n b e w r i t t e n a s a n a l t e r n a t i n g s e q u e n c e o f 1 s a n d 0 s t h a t s t a r t s a n d e n d s w i t h 1 .