Twin Primes: Occur in Pairs, 90k+11/13/17/19 Proven?

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In summary, it appears that twin prime pairs may occur in pairs - i.e. 11, 13, 17, 19. A cursory check seems to indicate that they have to be of the form 90k + 11, 13, 17, 19. Has this ever been proven? If so has it ever been proven that the set of k's is infinite or is it finite?
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mathman
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Twin primes may occur in pairs - i.e. 11, 13, 17, 19. A cursory check seems to indicate that they have to be of the form 90k + 11, 13, 17, 19. Has this ever been proven? If so has it ever been proven that the set of k's is infinite or is it finite?
 
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A less cursory check might throw up 5,7,11,13.
 
  • #3
Sorry - I meant after the single digits. The case you described is the only one where a number ending in 5 could appear.
 
  • #4
1481, 1483, 1487, 1489 is the first counterexample. (1491 = 41 + 90 * 16)

However what is true is that they are all of the form:
30k + 11, 13, 17, 19.

This can easily be proven by supposing we have primes n+11,n+13,n+17,n+19 (with n non-negative).

n must be even because otherwise n+11 is even and therefore not prime. So 2|n.

If [itex]n \equiv 1\pmod 3[/itex], then 3 divides n+17 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 2\pmod 3[/itex], then 3 divides n+11 which is a contradiction.
Thus 3|n.

If [itex]n \equiv 1\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+19 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 2\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+13 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 3\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+17 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 4\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+11 which is a contradiction.
Thus 5|n.

We now have 2*3*5=30|n.
 
  • #5
rasmhop said:
1481, 1483, 1487, 1489 is the first counterexample. (1491 = 41 + 90 * 16)

However what is true is that they are all of the form:
30k + 11, 13, 17, 19.

This can easily be proven by supposing we have primes n+11,n+13,n+17,n+19 (with n non-negative).

n must be even because otherwise n+11 is even and therefore not prime. So 2|n.

If [itex]n \equiv 1\pmod 3[/itex], then 3 divides n+17 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 2\pmod 3[/itex], then 3 divides n+11 which is a contradiction.
Thus 3|n.

If [itex]n \equiv 1\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+19 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 2\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+13 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 3\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+17 which is a contradiction.
If [itex]n \equiv 4\pmod 5[/itex], then 5 divides n+11 which is a contradiction.
Thus 5|n.

We now have 2*3*5=30|n.
What about the twin primes 29 and 31?
 
  • #6
Of 165 occurences of twin prime pairs taken from primes in the range 10-1000000 there are 60 of the form 90k+11,13,17,19. That's slightly more than you would predict from the 30k+11,13,17,19 constraint mentioned in rasmhop's post, but not surprisingly so.
 
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  • #7
ramsey2879 said:
What about the twin primes 29 and 31?
mathman was talking about sequences of 4 primes with consecutive differences of 2,4 and 2.
 
  • #8
Martin Rattigan said:
Of 165 occurences of twin prime pairs taken from primes in the range 10-1000000 there are 60 of the form 90k+11,13,17,19. That's slightly more than you would predict from the 30k+11,13,17,19 constraint mentioned in rasmhop's post, but not surprisingly so.

Agreed. But of the 28387 up to 10^9 only 9339 are of that form, reversing that trend. :approve:
 
  • #9
CRGreathouse said:
Agreed. But of the 28387 up to 10^9 only 9339 are of that form, reversing that trend. :approve:

This seems to imply that the 30k + 11, 13, 17, 19 prime sets fall into 3 classes depending on congruence of k mod 3. Have they been shown to be asymptotically equal in size?
 

1. What are twin primes?

Twin primes are prime numbers that differ by exactly 2. For example, 3 and 5, 11 and 13, and 41 and 43 are all twin primes.

2. Why are twin primes important?

Twin primes are important because they have been studied for centuries and still pose unanswered questions, making them a topic of ongoing research in mathematics. They also have applications in cryptography and number theory.

3. How many twin primes are there?

As of now, it is not known how many twin primes exist. However, the number of known twin primes increases as mathematical techniques and technology improve.

4. What is the significance of the 90k+11/13/17/19 formula in proving twin primes occur in pairs?

The 90k+11/13/17/19 formula is significant because it is a generalized form of the Hardy-Littlewood conjecture, which states that there are infinitely many twin primes. The formula helps to provide evidence for this conjecture by showing that there are infinitely many possible pairs of twin primes that follow this pattern.

5. How are twin primes proven to occur in pairs using the 90k+11/13/17/19 formula?

The 90k+11/13/17/19 formula is used to generate a sequence of numbers that may contain twin primes. By checking each number in the sequence, mathematicians can determine whether or not it is a twin prime pair. If the conjecture is true, then this method would theoretically produce an infinite number of twin primes, proving their occurrence in pairs.

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