Question #65512

2 Answers
Apr 25, 2017

The answer depends on what you mean by "formula".

Explanation:

There are procedures for finding primes -- the Sieve of Eratosthenes is one.

The are functions for generating primes, but none are easy to compute.

I recall being told in graduate school that that there is a function of 26 variables for generating the primes in order. (That was a few years ago, perhaps there is a better one now.)

Apr 27, 2017

No, but there is a way of finding out if a number is "prime"
(Where it's only factors are 1 and itself)

Explanation:

  1. Find the sqrt of the number = xx
  2. Find all the numbers up to the sqrt
  3. Furthermore, find all the prime numbers in that set
  4. If any of the prime numbers up to xx are divisors of x^2x2 then it is a prime number
  5. However, if no primes up to xx are divisors of x^2x2 then it is not classified as a prime number.