Re: prime numbers and African artifact

Erik Wahlstrom (erikw@bat.engr.sgi.com)
14 Jul 1995 18:15:16 GMT

In article <3u5act$j2u@zen.hursley.ibm.com>, martin@melon.wdg.uk.ibm.com writes:

> Hang on, I think I can finally wrap this up.
>
> (a) 254365465431652436514232 is not divisible by 2 (see above).

FALSE!

>
> (b) Since the first number is neither a 5 nor a 0, the number is
> not divisible by 5.
>
> (c) By repeatedly adding the digits together as above, we get the number 10.
> Now any number which doesn't divide into 10 clearly doesn't divide into
> the whole number. 10 is divisible only by 5 and 2, which we have already
> shown don't divide the number.
>
> So 254365465431652436514232 is most definitely prime, not to mention square
> (yes, a member of the small set of square primes) and also a Fibonacci number.

254365465431652436514232 IS NOT A PRIME. It's an Even number, End of story.
Remember the only even PRIME number is 2.

Cheers Erik