- #1
1MileCrash
- 1,342
- 41
2 is the "oddest prime of all."
Regarding the old humorous "math joke" that 2 is the only even prime, thus it is the "oddest" prime of all. I have a bone to pick with this.
I don't think the idea of "even" numbers is any more special than numbers that are divisible by 3 or 5, or anything else. Divisibility by 2 just has a special name.
So we say that 2 is an 'odd' prime because it is the only prime that is even.
But, if we equivalently say that 2 is the only prime that is divisible by 2, we find that there is nothing special about this at all, because any prime p has the property that it is the only prime divisible by p by definition.
Thus, there is nothing odd about the prime number 2.
End rant.
Regarding the old humorous "math joke" that 2 is the only even prime, thus it is the "oddest" prime of all. I have a bone to pick with this.
I don't think the idea of "even" numbers is any more special than numbers that are divisible by 3 or 5, or anything else. Divisibility by 2 just has a special name.
So we say that 2 is an 'odd' prime because it is the only prime that is even.
But, if we equivalently say that 2 is the only prime that is divisible by 2, we find that there is nothing special about this at all, because any prime p has the property that it is the only prime divisible by p by definition.
Thus, there is nothing odd about the prime number 2.
End rant.