| MATH 23

MODULE

PRIMES AND
03
THEIR DISTRIBUTION

Prepared by:
JUDIEL B. CABILAN
T| eacher Education Department 60 | P a g e
DAVAO DE ORO STATE COLLEGE – New Bataan
 | MATH 23

MODULE 03
PRIMES AND
THEIR DISTRIBUTION

MODULE OVERVIEW
Mighty are numbers, joined with art resistless.
EURIPIDES

Ah primes! The numbers whose only factors are themselves and 1. You might be really
familiar with this one but what you may know is just an inch of the miles of its
undiscovered beauty. These numbers compose the core of number theory because of
their unique characteristics and robust application in certain fields. In spite of enormous
effort of its closer investigations, a lot of mystery is still unravelled up to this day.
This makes the majority of unsolved conjectures in mathematics deal with topics in
numbertheory – especially on prime numbers.

What makes it an interesting topic for a lot mathematicians is its unique distribution in
a number line continuum. Supercomputing algorithms and machines are designed to
trace the pattern of its distribution only to find that it is unpredictable, mysterious, an
art. In this module, you are going to have a closer look on prime numbers, its theorems,
conjectures and some early techniques in locating prime numbers in a set of integers.
Jot down some important notes you find challenging and interesting as you travel
through the pages. You may also share and discuss it with your peers and teacher.

This module is arranged in the following lessons

 Lesson 1: The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
 Lesson 2: Sieve of Eratosthenes
 Lesson 3: Goldbach Conjecture

At the end of this module, note that you are expected to:
 explain the fundamental theorem of arithmetic;
 illustrate theorems, lemmas and corollaries on prime numbers;
 determine if an integer is prime by using applicable techniques;
 list all prime numbers less than or equal a certain integer 𝑛; and
 discuss Goldbach’s conjecture.

If you are ready, then you may now get started!

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LESSON 01
FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM
OF ARITHMETIC

OBJECTIVES
At the of the lesson you should be able to:
 define formally a prime number;
 discuss the fundamental theorem of arithmetic together with its corollary;
 apply the learned concepts to particular examples.

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the first lesson of the third module of the course – Number Theory. This
lesson is devoted to acquaint you on the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. You are
expected to accomplish certain tasks and activities that will help you understand and
organize your thoughts in this topic. You are just going to spend an hour and half to
finish this lesson, so don’t hurry and enjoy the journey.

ACTIVITY
TREE PRIME FACTORY

As early as you were in elementary, you already know that there are two types of
numbers, prime and composite numbers. An example of the former is 3 because its
factors are only 1 and 3, while the latter is a number greater than one which is obviously
not a prime. For instance, 6 because its factors are 2, 3, and 6.

For your activity, give the tree prime factorization of the composite numbers below and
summarize its prime factors in canonical form. The first item is given to you as an
example.

1. 60 2. 561 3. 12,600 4. 55,913

2 30

2 15

3 5

𝟔𝟎 = 𝟐𝟐 ⋅ 𝟑 ⋅ 𝟓 (canonical form: note that the factors should be in increasing order)

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ANALYSIS
Now consider these questions.

4. How did you find the prime factors of each composite number?

5. Is it possible to have multiple canonical form for a single composite number? Why
or why not?

6. Do all composite numbers have prime factors? Why or why not?

_

7. Is 1 a prime number? Why or why not?

ABSTRACTION
Let us now start our formal discussion.

BEFORE YOU PROCEED! Supplemental learning resources for

this lesson, specifically educational videos in lesson 1, are
specified in page 20. You may watch these videos as you go along
with each topic.

Prime numbers play a crucial role in number theory. In the previous lessons, you
learned that any integer 𝑎 > 1is divisible by ±1 and ±𝑎. If these are the only divisors
of 𝑎 then it is said to be a prime number. Now, we formally define a prime number.

DEFINITION
An integer 𝑝 > 1 is called a prime number, or simply a prime, if its only positive
divisors are 1 and 𝑝. An integer greater than 1 that is not a prime is termed composite.

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Among the first 10 positive integers, 2, 3, 5, 7 are primes and 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 are composite
numbers. Note that the integer 2 is the only even prime, and according to our definition
the integer 1 plays a special role, being neither prime nor composite.
In the rest of this course, the letters 𝑝 and 𝑞 will be reserved, so far as is possible, for
primes.
Proposition 14 of Book IX of Euclid's Elements embodies the result that later became
known as the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic, namely, that every integer greater
than 1 can, except for the order of the factors, be represented as a product of primes in
one and only one way. To quote the proposition itself: "If a number be the least that is
measured by prime numbers, it will not be measured by any other prime except those
originally measuring it." Because every number 𝑎 > 1 is either a prime or, by the
Fundamental Theorem, can be broken down into unique prime factors and no further,
the primes serve as the building blocks from which all other integers can be made.
Accordingly, the prime numbers have intrigued mathematicians through the ages, and
although a number of remarkable theorems relating to their distribution in the sequence
of positive integers have been proved, even more remarkable is what remains unproved.
The open questions can be counted among the outstanding unsolved problems in all of
mathematics.
To begin on a simpler note, we observe that the prime 3 divides the integer 36, where
36 may be written as any one of the products
6 ⋅ 6 = 9 ⋅ 4 = 12 ⋅ 3 = 18 ⋅ 2
THEOREM 3.1
If 𝑝 is a prime and 𝑝|𝑎𝑏, then 𝑝|𝑎 or 𝑝|𝑏.

For instance, 3 is a prime that divides 36 (which can be written as 9⋅4). By theorem 3.1,
3 divides 9 or 4, in this case, 3 divides 9. This theorem easily extends to products of
more than two terms.

COROLLARY 1
If 𝑝 is a prime and 𝑝|𝑎1𝑎2 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝑎𝑛, then 𝑝|𝑎𝑘 for some 𝑘, where 1 ≤ 𝑘 ≤ 𝑛.

COROLLARY 2
If 𝑝, 𝑞1, 𝑞2,⋅⋅⋅ 𝑎𝑛 are all primes and 𝑝|𝑞1𝑞2 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝑞𝑛, then 𝑝 = 𝑞𝑘 for some 𝑘, where 1 ≤
𝑘 ≤ 𝑛.

CHECKPOINT QUIZ 1
Read the following item carefully and answer what is asked:

1. Verify corollary 1 by letting 𝑝 = 7 and 𝑎1𝑎2 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝑎𝑛 = 385?

2. Verify corollary 2 by letting 𝑝 = 13 and 𝑞1𝑞2 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝑞𝑛 = 1430

With this preparation out of the way, we arrive at one of the cornerstones of our
development, the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic. As indicated earlier, this
theorem asserts that every integer greater than 1 can be factored into primes in

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essentially one way; the linguistic ambiguity essentially means that 2 · 3 · 2 is not
considered as being a different factorization of 12 from 2 · 2 · 3. We state this precisely
in Theorem 3.2.

THEOREM 3.2 Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

Every positive integer 𝑛 > 1 is either a prime or a product of primes; this
representation is unique, apart from the order in which the factors occur.

Of course, several of the primes that appear in the factorization of a given positive
integer may be repeated, as is the case with 360 = 2 · 2 · 2 · 3 · 3 · 5. By collecting like
primes and replacing them by a single factor, we can rephrase Theorem 3.2 as a
corollary.

COROLLARY 1
Any positive integer 𝑛 > 1 can be written uniquely in a canonical form

𝑛 = 𝑝1𝑘1𝑝2𝑘2 ⋅⋅⋅ 𝑝𝑟𝑘𝑟

where, for 𝑖 = 1, 2, . . . , 𝑟, each 𝑘𝑖 is a positive integer and each 𝑝𝑖 is a prime, with
𝑝1 < 𝑝2 < · · · < 𝑝𝑟 ·

To illustrate, the canonical form of the integer 360 is 360 = 23 · 32 · 5. As further

examples we cite

4725 = 33 · 52 · 7 𝑎𝑛𝑑 17460 = 23 · 32 · 5 · 72

CHECKPOINT QUIZ 2
Find the canonical form of the following integer:

1. 864
2. 5897
3. 10264

FINDING GREATEST COMMON FACTOR BY PRIME FACTORIZATION

Suppose we want to find the GCF of 𝑎 = 4725 and 𝑏 = 7460.

Step 1: Write a and b in their canonical forms. (Allow zero exponents for factors
with no corresponding factor on the other integer.)

4725 = 20 ⋅ 33 ⋅ 52 ⋅ 7
17460 = 23 ⋅ 32 ⋅ 5 ⋅ 72
Step 2: Write each common factor with the smaller of their exponents and then
multiply.
gcd(4725,17460) = 20 ⋅ 32 ⋅ 5 ⋅ 7 = 315

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CHECKPOINT QUIZ 3
Find the gcd of the following using the :

1. (864, 5897)
2. (5897, 10264)
3. (10264, 864)

THEOREM 3.3 Pythagoras

The number ξ2 is irrational.

This is an opportune moment to insert a famous result of Pythagoras. Mathematics as a

science began with Pythagoras (569-500 B.C.), and much of the content of Euclid's
Elements is due to Pythagoras and his school. The Pythagoreans deserve the credit for
being the first to classify numbers into odd and even, prime and composite.

CHECKPOINT QUIZ 4
Read the item carefully and give what is asked.

1. Prove Theorem 3.3.

APPLICATION
You’re almost there. Let us have some exercises.

Read each item carefully and answer what is asked.

1. It has been conjectured that there are infinitely many primes of the form
𝑛2 − 2. Exhibit five such primes.
2. Give an example to show that the following conjecture is not true:
Every positive integer can be written in the form 𝑝 + 𝑎2 , where 𝑝 is
either a prime or 1, and 𝑎 > 0.
3. Find all prime numbers that divide 50!.
4. Find the prime factorization of the integers 1234, 10140, and 36000.
5. Verify that any integer n can be expressed as 𝑛 = 2𝑘𝑚, where 𝑘 > 0
and 𝑚 is an odd integer.

CLOSURE

There you go! What a job well done. You have successfully completed the first lesson
of Module 3. In this module, you have learned the fundamental theorem of arithmetic
that every integer greater than 1 can be a prime or product of primes, and that can be
written in a unique way. Have a glance at our objectives to see if those are attained by
you. If you are ready, you may now proceed to the next lesson.

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