prime number

noun

: any integer other than 0 or ± 1 that is not divisible without remainder by any other integers except ± 1 and ± the integer itself

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web What even number is not the result of two prime numbers? —

Jared Beasley, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2023 The only even prime number is 2. —

Alec Wilkinson, Harper’s Magazine , 25 May 2022 And, the question that has deeply puzzled so many physicists for a century (since its discovery in 1916): Why is the fine structure constant, which measures the strength of electromagnetic interactions, so tantalizingly close to 1/137 ---the inverse of a prime number? —

Amir Aczel, Discover Magazine, 2 Dec. 2011 Two mathematicians at the California Institute of Technology proved a 1978 conjecture predicting that cubic Gauss sums, which sum numbers of the form for some prime number p, always add up to about . —

Konstantin Kakaes, Quanta Magazine, 22 Dec. 2022 Using this complicated modular arithmetic based on a prime number, but essentially raising a number to hidden powers as in the previous section, Alice and Bob establish a common secret number, in this example, 3. —

Amir Aczel, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2013 So on an average, for someone that did not have a credit score, by establishing their credit scores at a prime number around that 670 range. —

Fortune Editors, Fortune, 8 Feb. 2023 In reality, the prime number is large, and so are the other numbers. —

Amir Aczel, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2013 The current record was achieved on January 25, 2013, when the prime number 2^57,885,161-1 was discovered. —

Amir Aczel, Discover Magazine, 10 July 2013 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prime number.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.