Question #65512
2 Answers
Apr 25, 2017
The answer depends on what you mean by "formula".
Explanation:
There are procedures for finding primes -- the Sieve of Eratosthenes is one.
The are functions for generating primes, but none are easy to compute.
I recall being told in graduate school that that there is a function of 26 variables for generating the primes in order. (That was a few years ago, perhaps there is a better one now.)
Apr 27, 2017
No, but there is a way of finding out if a number is "prime"
(Where it's only factors are 1 and itself)
Explanation:
- Find the
#sqrt# of the number =#x# - Find all the numbers up to the
#sqrt# - Furthermore, find all the prime numbers in that set
- If any of the prime numbers up to
#x# are divisors of#x^2# then it is a prime number - However, if no primes up to
#x# are divisors of#x^2# then it is not classified as a prime number.
