Incredible Quotationsfrom History’s Top Thinkers

About Prime Numbers

Brief Introduction:

Mathematical reasoning

is not devoid of

society's way of life,

traditions, practices

and influences of

culture and time.

To prove how scientific

thinking is shaped by

culture see the

following collection of

imaginary thoughts and

statements from famous

people regarding their

opinion about the

series of prime

numbers.

The prime numbers series

is 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, etc.

There’s no end to this

series. Non-primes are

called composite

numbers.

Prime number have three

unique properties that

places them apart:

First: Every non prime

natural number can be

uniquely factored into

prime numbers. That is, 30

= 2*3*5 and that’s all; no

other number combination

can give the same result.

Second: Prime numbers

cannot be generated by

any mathematical

formula. It’s strange

that fundamental as

they are, there’s no way

to compute by formulas

the sequence of prime

numbers.

Third: Every integer

number is either a

prime number or a

composite number; with

nothing between.

So, here we go …

Let’s see what some

daring and bold

influential people

have to say about the

“pattern” and

sequence of the prime

numbers.

Mohammad ibn al-

Khwarizmi:

“3 is a prime number, 5 is

also prime, 7 is prime …

and 9 is not prime, but

don’t tell it to the

infidels.”

Socrates:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime, 9 is … sorry, this

leads me to the discovery

that I only know that I know

nothing.”

Aristotle:

“1 is not prime, by

definition. 2 is a natural

prime, 4 is an unnatural

prime, and 6 is an unnatural

prime. All other natural

primes cannot be unnatural

primes.”

Thomas of Aquinas:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime and 9 is prime. God

can do anything.”

William of Occam:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, and

7 is a prime. Why bother with

non-prime numbers when the

primes can do everything?

"Entia non sunt

multiplicanda praeter

necessitatem*."

* Multiple entities should not be used unless necessary. This refers to that in science, the less the postulates, the better.

Christopher Columbus:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime. According to some

ancient manuscripts 9 is not

a prime number, but beyond

the distant horizon of the

oceans, in the New World

that I am going to discover,

there are surely lots of

them.”

Menoccio Scandella:

“In the beginning there

was a chaos, and out of

the chaos came the

primes: 1, 2, 3. Out of

these numbers came the

composite numbers like

the holes in a fermented

cheese.”

Giordano Bruno:

“I don’t care if 1 is prime

or not, if 2 is prime or not,

if 3 is prime or not. All I

care is that there are more

stars in the heavens than

primes in the earth.”

Galileo Galilei:

“I, Galileo, son of the late

Vicenzo Galilei, swear that

I never said that the prime

numbers are useless. What I

said was that you cannot

count lunar craters by

counting 2, 3, 5, 7 …”

Isaac Newton:

“If numbers had mass, then 6

will be gravitationally pulled

by the primes 2 and 3. However,

no body can pull masses 3, 5 and

7 because no mass can pull

itself. On the other hand, when

it comes to 9, … well, this

requires advanced calculus

because now we are talking

about the inverse square law.”

George Washington:

“What’s the difference

between prime numbers and

composite numbers? There

are no real differences,

remember: E pluribus

unum*.”

* We are one in the plurality.

Abraham Lincoln:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is

a prime and 9 should be a

prime. Keep in mind that you

can fool all the primes some of

the time, and some of the

primes all of the time, but you

cannot fool all of the primes

all of the time”.

Karl Marx:

“2 is a proletariat prime, and

4, 6 and 8 are composite

proletariats. Composites of the

world unite; you have nothing

to lose but your chains!”

Dimitri Mendeleev:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime,

and 7 is a prime, but 9 is a

noble prime that deserves a

separate row in the Periodic

Table of the Primes.”

Edwin Abbott Abbott:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a

prime, and 9 is A Square prime.

Flatland is a place that

welcomes any prime from the

third dimension.”

George Cantor:

“3 is a transfinite prime, 5

and 7 are also transfinite

primes; however, it is my

conjecture that N_o is

possibly the first

transfinite composite

between 7 and 11. Keep in

mind that any single

irrational number contains

all the digits of all the

primes.”

Mahatma Gandhi:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7

is prime, but 9 is not

prime –in this

incarnation.”

Bertrand Russell:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime, 9 is a paradox; as is

a paradox why the number 1

is not prime if it has no

other divisors besides

itself.”

General Douglas MacArthur:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime, and some reports from

the battlefront tell me that 9

is not prime –but I shall

return!”

Pablo Picasso:

“1 is a prime, 2 is a

prime, 3 is a prime, 4 is a

prime ... Give me a museum

and I’ll fill it!”

Erwin Schrödinger:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime,

and 7 is a prime, however, 9

has a dual prime-composite

state that can collapse to one

side or the other depending

on the observer’s cat.”

Charlie Chaplin:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime,

7 is a prime, 9 is the next

prime after 8.”

Mother Teresa:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime, and 9 is prime, but all

of them are orphans.”

John F. Kennedy:

“1 is not a prime number

and 9 is not a prime

number? Then ask not

what the primes can do

for you, ask what you

can do for the primes.”

Evangelist Billy Graham:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime, 9 is an unfortunate

mistake of the devil. But if

it repents, it will be saved!”

Fidel Castro:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7

and 9 are primes. Condemn

me. It does not matter.

History will absolve me.”

Martin Luther King:

“What? You say that 2 is the

only even prime number? I

have a dream that one day this

number will rise up and live

out the true meaning of its

creed. We hold these truths to

be self evident and that all

numbers are created equal.”

Hugh Everett:

“3 is a prime, 5 is a prime,

and 7 is a prime, but 9 may

also be prime in some other

alternate universe.”

Stephen Hawking:

“2, 3, 5 and 7 are prime numbers:

9 is not prime, but in the black

holes, past beyond the event

horizon, anything can happen.”

George W. Bush:

“3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is

prime, and 9 … well, any

odd number can be prime as

long as it is not 9.”

This content was first submitted and

published in Paradox, the Melbourne

University Mathematics and

Statistics Society Magazine, Issue 1,

2007. The current presentation is a

graphic version of that humor

article.

More resources and critical

thinking articles at

http://4dlab.info

EMail me at: 4dlab2007@gmail.com

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