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Mathematicians Discover Prime Conspiracy
Quanta Magazine ^ | 13 Mar, 2016 | Erica Klarreich

Posted on 03/14/2016 5:28:27 PM PDT by MtnClimber

A previously unnoticed property of prime numbers seems to violate a longstanding assumption about how they behave.

o mathematicians have uncovered a simple, previously unnoticed property of prime numbers — those numbers that are divisible only by 1 and themselves. Prime numbers, it seems, have decided preferences about the final digits of the primes that immediately follow them.

Among the first billion prime numbers, for instance, a prime ending in 9 is almost 65 percent more likely to be followed by a prime ending in 1 than another prime ending in 9. In a paper posted online today, Kannan Soundararajan and Robert Lemke Oliver of Stanford University present both numerical and theoretical evidence that prime numbers repel other would-be primes that end in the same digit, and have varied predilections for being followed by primes ending in the other possible final digits.

“We’ve been studying primes for a long time, and no one spotted this before,” said Andrew Granville, a number theorist at the University of Montreal and University College London. “It’s crazy.”

The discovery is the exact opposite of what most mathematicians would have predicted, said Ken Ono, a number theorist at Emory University in Atlanta. When he first heard the news, he said, “I was floored. I thought, ‘For sure, your program’s not working.’”

This conspiracy among prime numbers seems, at first glance, to violate a longstanding assumption in number theory: that prime numbers behave much like random numbers. Most mathematicians would have assumed, Granville and Ono agreed, that a prime should have an equal chance of being followed by a prime ending in 1, 3, 7 or 9 (the four possible endings for all prime numbers except 2 and 5).

(Excerpt) Read more at quantamagazine.org ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: math; mathematics; number; numbers; numbertheory; prime; primenumber; primenumbers; primes
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To: Fhios

Well till you pointed that out I was ready to smart off that all prime numbers are followed by and preceeded by an even number.

But, calling them prime IS a micro-aggression.


41 posted on 03/14/2016 6:39:16 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (As always, /s is implicitly assumed. Unless explicitly labled /not s. Saves keystrokes.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
Secret Agent Man wrote: Yup. Gay as Gay Gayerson of Las Gaygas.

Hmmm... Sounds like a real foot-tapper...

42 posted on 03/14/2016 6:39:23 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: TexasKamaAina

I want every illegal prime deported. I thoroughly oppose inter-marriage between prime numbers and red-blooded American numbers.


43 posted on 03/14/2016 6:47:37 PM PDT by Larry381 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

Yes, but you said that 4 times, whereas I said it 3 times, then 13, therefore I am the more unique observer of the prime. /:^)


44 posted on 03/14/2016 6:50:26 PM PDT by Cvengr ( Adversity in life & death is inevitable; Stress is optional through faith in Christ.)
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To: TexasTransplant

I do remember reading this very same thing in an 80’s issue of OMNI magazine.


45 posted on 03/14/2016 6:51:53 PM PDT by Celerity
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Do they run straight or are they that other flavor


46 posted on 03/14/2016 6:53:20 PM PDT by Nailbiter
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

Did you steal that one from Steven Wright? :D


47 posted on 03/14/2016 6:57:40 PM PDT by thecodont
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To: MtnClimber

I know that 42 isn’t a prime number, but it darn well ought to be.


48 posted on 03/14/2016 6:58:01 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: MtnClimber

So...are we saying that Prime Numbers...discriminate?


49 posted on 03/14/2016 7:01:09 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
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To: MtnClimber
I have what might be a related theorem.

Every prime number ending in 9 is 100% guaranteed to be followed by an odd number ending in 1 before an odd number ending in 9. Similarly, primes ending in 1 are 100% guaranteed to be followed by an odd number ending in 9 before an odd number ending in 1.

50 posted on 03/14/2016 7:08:09 PM PDT by William Tell
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To: MtnClimber

The “reason” we keep finding new things is because we THINK we understand stuff, when in reality we are like a blind man feeling our way along.

At any moment, our “view” or reality is the set of things we believe to be true.

Quantum State theory has proven that the “reality” of our universe is an projection, and similar to relativity, that view depends on the observer.

Yikes! This undermines the very notion that we can probe the universe like a tinker toy set.....Neil FullofGassy and Carl SayAgain? will be highly unpleased by this turn of events, because the emperor not only has no clothes, but is he really an emperor?


51 posted on 03/14/2016 7:10:43 PM PDT by BereanBrain
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

“I know that 42 isn’t a prime number, but it darn well ought to be.”

42 wins a “participation prize” for being, like all non-primes, the unique product of a set of prime numbers : 2x3x7


52 posted on 03/14/2016 7:10:50 PM PDT by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: William Tell
"I have what might be a related theorem. Every prime number ending in 9 is 100% guaranteed to be followed by an odd number ending in 1 before an odd number ending in 9. Similarly, primes ending in 1 are 100% guaranteed to be followed by an odd number ending in 9 before an odd number ending in 1."

Isn't that prejudicial and racist?

53 posted on 03/14/2016 7:11:28 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

TWO is THE number! One (who does not qualify as prime) is the loneliest and three is a crowd. The others are boring, as I think out loud.


54 posted on 03/14/2016 7:32:17 PM PDT by lyby ("Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." ~ Galileo Galilei)
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To: MtnClimber

Bump.....


55 posted on 03/14/2016 8:59:33 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Hostage

In what way are prime numbers useful in cyber security?


56 posted on 03/14/2016 9:32:13 PM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Don't be a lone wolf. Form up small leaderlesss cells ASAP !)
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To: Celerity

Omni was a great magazine!

My dad got me a subscription when I was 12.

It had a big influence on me.


57 posted on 03/14/2016 9:43:13 PM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Don't be a lone wolf. Form up small leaderlesss cells ASAP !)
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To: T-Bone Texan

There are an infinite number of primes.

All numbers are factorable by primes.

He who knows the current largest prime has a number space that no one else knows.

He who has a number space unknown to others is secure; all others are insecure.

All unknown prime numbers are unpredictable and must be found by brute force computing.

Finding the next largest prime number is a function of computing speed and search algorithm.

This thread is about a statistical search algorithm that can boost chances of a ‘hit’.


58 posted on 03/14/2016 10:02:41 PM PDT by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: Moonman62
The Monty Hall problem is a practical example of a feature of conditional probability first discovered/demonstrated by Bayes. The solution has been implemented at all sorts of carnivals and county fairs and such. This problem has little if anything to do with number theory, sorry. (and DO switch your guess, should you find yourself playing in a "Monty Hall"-ish game).

FReegards!

59 posted on 03/15/2016 9:38:17 AM PDT by SAJ
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