Is It Proved That All Primes End With 1,3,7,9?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the properties of prime numbers, specifically whether all prime numbers end with the digits 1, 3, 7, or 9, and the implications of this observation. Participants explore the conditions under which primes can be even or end in certain digits, as well as the relevance of these properties for identifying primes.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant observes that all primes they have seen end with the digits 1, 3, 7, or 9, and questions whether this is true for all primes and if it has been proven.
  • Another participant notes the exception of 5, indicating that no primes can end in 5 except for 5 itself, as those would be multiples of 5.
  • A participant states that, with the exception of 2, no primes can be even, leading to the conclusion that all primes must end in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, and further refines this to 1, 3, 7, or 9, excluding 5.
  • One participant suggests that the simplicity of these rules is helpful for prime identification, as they eliminate a significant portion of natural numbers from being prime.
  • Several participants share links to external resources related to numerical searches for primes, indicating an interest in the distribution of primes ending in specific digits.
  • Another participant speculates about the distribution of primes ending in 1, 3, 7, or 9, questioning whether it has been proven that there are roughly equal amounts of primes ending in these digits.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the observations regarding the digits that primes can end with, but there is no consensus on whether the distribution of primes ending in 1, 3, 7, or 9 has been formally proven.

Contextual Notes

The discussion does not delve into formal proofs or theorems regarding the distribution of prime numbers, leaving open the question of whether the claims made are rigorously established.

wellorderingp
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So it was my observation that all the prime numbers I saw ended with digits 1,3,7,9.Is this true for all primes? Is it proved?
 
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With an exception to 5
 
Consider: With the exception of 2, no primes can be even, as if they are even, then they are divisible by 2.

Therefore, all primes must end in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9.

Consider: With the exception of 5, no primes can end in 5, as if they do so, then they are a multiple of 5.

Therefore, all primes must end in 1, 3, 7, or 9.

So... yes.

If you need a proof of either of the considered statements, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult.
 
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bah, beat me to it. :)
 
Yeah that was pretty simple :) thanks anyways
 
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Simple, maybe, but it's still helpful for prime identification. Considering that just those two little rules invalidate over 60% of all natural numbers from being prime, it allows you (or a computer) to focus more easily upon the other 40%.
 
dkotschessaa said:
You might find this interesting. This is more numerical-search than proofy stuff:http://korn19.ch/coding/primes/ending.php

Interesting. This means to me that there are about as many primes that end in 3, as there are primes that end in 1 (or 7 or 9). I wonder if this has been proven.
 

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