A Prime Example

A Prime Example was Originally Posted on February 14, 2007 by

You don’t have to be a mathematician, but it might help.

You may remember Prime numbers (natural numbers which can only be divided by themselves and the number 1). These are numbers such as 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43 and so on.

I was over at Wikipedia.Org and browsing entries when I came across the Prime Number. It is interesting to note that although discovered in ancient Greece, and studied ever since. However, it was not until the 1970’s that an actual application was found that could use them. That application is cryptography (encrypting data) and is used daily on websites now a days. Since 1951, computer programs now find prime numbers.

Although not obvious, it appears that at least one insect may be here primarily because of prime numbers.

Remember the cicada, the insects that live underground and emerge every 13 or 17 years? As Wikipedia says, if they emerged at non-prime number intervals, say every 12 years, then predators appearing every 2, 3, 4, 6, or 12 years would be sure to meet them and kill them off.

I wonder if other animals or plants use prime numbers to their advantage?

As you may know, computer viruses are named “viruses” because they spread on computers much like a real virus spreads in real life. Wouldn’t it be interesting if as mathematicians use computers to look for prime numbers, that one of the patterns they discover might be the key to curing cancer?