PDA

View Full Version : Is the set of prime number finite? if?


Shad0w7
Oct30-10, 08:29 AM
Let's say I have this statement. {a^p | p is prime and p < N}

a is considered a string so

so a^2 = aa, a^3 = aaa and so on....

anyway, in this case, since it says that p< N, then is mean that p will be finite right??

HallsofIvy
Oct30-10, 08:50 AM
First, let me point out that the answer to the question asked in the title, "is the set of prime numbers finite", is "NO"- the set of all prime numbers is infinite- that proof was given by Euclid, thousands of years ago.

But the answer to the question asked in your text, "Is the set of all numbers of the form a^p where a is a given number and p is a prime number less than N finite" is "YES". In fact, the "prime" part is irrelevant. If a is a fixed number, then the set of all a^n, where n is any positive integer less than N, is finite.