Angus Writers’ Circle

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2 Responses

1. on June 18, 2011 at 11:44 pm | Reply John Perkins

   In A Slice of Pi there is a statement that set of prime numbers may be finite. Of course this statement is not true.

   If the set of prime numbers was finite then

   p1 * p2 * p3 * ,,, * pn + 1 would be prime leading to a contradiction.

   John Perkins
   Salem, NH

   
   
2. on June 19, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Reply John Perkins

   All integers can be represented as one of the following

   6N-1, 6N, 6N+1, 6N+2, 6N+3, 6N+4

   All odd integers greater than 3 can be represented as 6N-1, 6N+1, 6N+3

   Now cleary 6N+3 is divisible by 3 so is not prime for all N>1

   So every prime number greater than 3 has to be able to be represented as 6N-1 or 6N+1

   John Perkins
   Salem, NH