The annoying one

Is 1 a prime number?

No Yes

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1 solution

Robert Williams
Dec 31, 2017

There are a couple of reasons it makes sense not to include 1 in the set of primes:

  • Multiples of prime numbers are not prime, if we defined 1 as prime we would have to make an exception to this rule

  • Integers greater than 1 can be expressed as the product of a single set (ignoring order) of primes, for example 10 has prime factors 2 and 5, if 1 were prime we could also express 10 as the product of 1, 2 and 5 or even 1, 1, 1, 2 and 5.

By treating 1 as a special number, but not a prime, we avoid complicating these rules with exceptions for 1.

Thumbs up 👍 for you

Annie Li - 3 years, 5 months ago

Good explanation why 1 is not a prime.

Hallo Leo - 3 years, 5 months ago

1 is special

NSCS 747 - 7 months, 4 weeks ago

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