Can primes be negative?
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According to my prep book: "A prime number is any positive integer larger than 1 with exactly 2 factors: 1 and itself"RumpelThickSkin wrote:Can somone please clarify for this for please
A quick google search makes me think that there might be some grey zone at a more advanced theoretical level - but for the GMAT (and for most other purposes), I think the answer is no - primes are positive.
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doesn't really matter -- you will never have to deal with this issue, one way or the other, on an official problem.
no way.
the problems will almost certainly say something like "positive prime number", making it explicit. if they don't, then there will be some other context that implies or requires the primes in question to be positive.
no way.
the problems will almost certainly say something like "positive prime number", making it explicit. if they don't, then there will be some other context that implies or requires the primes in question to be positive.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.
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- Abhishek009
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Well this link is just for knowledge https://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55940.html have a look at this.RumpelThickSkin wrote:Can somone please clarify for this for please
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prime has 2 factors...
the number itself and 1
so for a negative number say -7
the factors are
1 -7 and -1 ==> three..
violates the definition of a prime
the number itself and 1
so for a negative number say -7
the factors are
1 -7 and -1 ==> three..
violates the definition of a prime
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Whenever we come across the terminologies like, primes, composites, divisors or factors, etc, they customarily mean positive integers only, with no ambiguity whatsoever. I haven't ever learnt a term like "positive prime number" on real GMAT.RumpelThickSkin wrote:Can somone please clarify for this for please
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Sanjeev K Saxena
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- sanju09
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What is this extra for for?RumpelThickSkin wrote:Can somone please clarify for this for please
The mind is everything. What you think you become. -Lord Buddha
Sanjeev K Saxena
Quantitative Instructor
The Princeton Review - Manya Abroad
Lucknow-226001
www.manyagroup.com
Sanjeev K Saxena
Quantitative Instructor
The Princeton Review - Manya Abroad
Lucknow-226001
www.manyagroup.com