Forums » Off-Topic

Prime numbers

«123456»
Oct 04, 2005 who? me? link
hmmm ya know that could be it, i got that riddle from the "car guys" on car talk, ya know that npr show... they seem to like that kind of whacky think.

anyways...

281

...or sight, of...

incidentally, i know that most of us are not putting these down from memory. where are yall getting your numbers?

edit again! ha! tangent change your answer i beat you to it!! hahaha!
Oct 04, 2005 Tangent link
283

The story continues: ...astonished to find...

Who? me? you beat me by like 10 seconds... [edited number]
Oct 04, 2005 mgl_mouser link
293

...a...
Oct 06, 2005 JestatisBess link
307

...a beer.
Oct 06, 2005 mgl_mouser link
311

I thought I had found the last one there for a bit...

... Obsidian, not a beer drinker per say, opted to ...
Oct 06, 2005 JestatisBess link
313

...drink it anyway.
Oct 06, 2005 Obsidian link
349

Making her wonder if somewhere, out there, someone was talking about her...
Oct 06, 2005 mgl_mouser link
317 331 337 347

... Indeed, she then realized some were definitely talking about her, given she had omitted 4 prime numbers. ...

353
Oct 06, 2005 Obsidian link
353
I just wanted to get the list moving a bit faster. Also you got to say "1337" :P
Oct 07, 2005 Tangent link
359

...More people are now snickering since she copied a number already posted... :)
Oct 07, 2005 toshiro link
367

As a matter of fact, Euclid proved about 2.3k years ago that there is an infinite number of prime numbers. However, how big this infinity is (how fast/slow they grow, I guess...), has not yet been discovered, at least that's what a short (and percursory) google search revealed.

Also, patterns in the appearance of prime numbers have been found, but I can't seem to find or recall the article I'm basing this on (but that I'm pretty sure of).
Oct 07, 2005 Tangent link
373

And unless this isn't helpful, here is something that Toshiro was talking about, only it says there is no pattern....

http://www.mathspractice.com.au/modules/menus/educational%20software%20activity%2071.htm
Oct 08, 2005 JestatisBess link
379

...and she thought to herself...
Oct 08, 2005 Will Roberts link
383 (V8 stroker)

Who?You. I heard NPR's Car-Talk today.
Six --> 3
Twelve --> 6
Fourteen --> 8
Twentytwo --> 9
(it's the number of letters. pretty tricky)

..."are you thinking what I'm thinking?"...
Oct 08, 2005 toshiro link
389

I found the magazine who published the article. But the article is in german and their web-based archive is not free of charge...

Suckage.
Oct 09, 2005 margoth link
397

Indeed, the number of prime numbers remaining is infinite, give or take a gazillion. A useful resource for you all:
http://members.surfeu.fi/kklaine/primebear.html

And another interesting question regarding numbers:
http://www.helsinki.fi/~vayrynen/odd/
Oct 10, 2005 toshiro link
401

Hm.

I guess I'm just too stupid, but isn't that project (largest odd number search) just a waste of resources? Since there is an infinite number of numbers that are elements of the space |R, even (you know what I mean, all decimals, the one-dimensional space).

Quote from their site: "A Mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.- Pál Erdős"
Only too true, our maths professor was hardly ever seen coming back from break without a cup of coffee.
Oct 10, 2005 roguelazer link
409

I think it's a joke. If a mod 2 = 1, then (a+2) mod 2 will always also equal 1. Modulus arithematic tends to be circular in nature. ;)
Oct 10, 2005 mgl_mouser link
419

Insider's joke: more words please, Rogue.
Oct 11, 2005 toshiro link
421

That's exactly my point, rogue. Or theirs. They are looking for a number a, so that a mod 2 = 1 and (a+2) mod 2 = 0.
But, as you and I both said, the next odd number logically exists also.

Besides, an edit on my previous post: It's |N, of course, not |R. Silly me.