50 Natural Numbers and Integers
- Find out whether or not 901 is a prime number.
- Break down 1,081 into a product of primes.
- Break down 841 into a product of primes. What interesting property does this number
have? - Break down 2,197 into a product of primes. What interesting property does this
number have? - Are any negative integers composite if we insist on using the traditional definition of a
prime number? - Can you think of a good reason why the natural numbers 0 and 1 are not defined as
prime? Here’s a hint: It should never be possible for a number to be both prime and
composite. - Show how the natural numbers can be paired off one-to-one with the integers. Here’s a
hint: Use Fig. 3-5 with its pattern of dashed, arrowed guidelines to create an “implied
one-ended list” of the integers that captures them all.