SMA3043 ELEMENTARY NUMBER THEORY

SEMESTER 1 2022/2023

CHAPTER 2: PRIME NUMBERS

PROF. MADYA DR ROHAIDAH MASRI

DR. NOR HAFIZAH MD HUSIN
PRIME NUMBERS

MOTIVATION OF PRIMES

• A fundamental technique in mathematics is to break something down into its component parts,
and rebuild it from those parts.

• Any whole number can be factored into a product of prime numbers

Example.

(this prime factorization is unique)

• Prime factorization is a very useful tool when working with whole numbers:
o mental arithmetic
o finding square roots
o calculating the Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) and Least Common Multiples (LCM)

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PRIME NUMBERS

Definition 1 (Prime Numbers)

An integers p > 1 is called a prime number, if its only positive divisors
are 1 and p. A positive integers greater than 1 that is not a prime is
called composite.

PRIMES AND RECTANGULAR ARRAYS

A composite number can be represented by at least two different rectangular arrays.

Example: 12 can be represented by rectangular arrays in three ways:

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PRIME NUMBERS
A prime number like 5, however, can only be represented by a
rectangular array with just one row.

Some Facts:

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PRIME NUMBERS

Theorem 1
If p is a prime and p | ab, then p | a or p | b.

Example.

Let p = 3 (Prime) and 3 | 30 = (5)(6)

Then,
3|5 X or 3 | 6. 

Let p = 5 (Prime) and 5 | 30 = (5)(6)

Then,
5|6 X or 5 | 5. 

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PRIME NUMBERS

Corollary 1

If p is a prime and p | a1a2 …. an; then p | ak for some k, where 1  k  n:

Example.

Let p = 3 (Prime) and 3 | 30 = 2 x 5 x 3

Then,
3 | 5 X 3 | 2 X or 3 | 3. 

Let p = 7 (Prime) and 7 | 84 = (3)(2)(2)(7)

Then,
7 | 2 X 7 | 3 X or 7| 7. 

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PRIME NUMBERS

Corollary 2

If p, q1, q2, ... , qn are all primes and p | q1 .q2. ... . qn then p = qk for
some k, where 1 k  n.

Example.

Let 3 | 90 = 2 x 3 x 3 x 5 where q1=2 ; q2=3 ; q3=3 ; q4=5 ;

Then, p = q2 ; p = q 3

Theorem 2 (Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic)

Every positive integer n > 1 can be expressed as a product of primes.
This representation is unique, apart from the order in which the factors occur.

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PRIME NUMBERS

Example.

40 = 2. 2. 2. 5 = 23 . 5

90 = 2. 3. 3. 5 = 2 . 32 . 5

75 = 3. 5. 5

124 = 2 . 2 . 31

Exercise:

Express the following positive integers as a product of primes.

i. 228
ii. 150
iii. 280

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PRIME NUMBERS

Corollary 3
Any positive integer n > 1 can be written uniquely in a canonical form
n = p p ... p
k1
1
k2
2
kr
r

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

Example.

4725 = 33 . 52. 7

17640 = 23. 32. 5. 72

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PRIME NUMBERS
Some Applications of Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
Finding Positive Divisors

Example.

120 = 23 . 3 . 5.
The positive divisors of 120 can be found as follows:

So, the positive divisors of 120 are:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 30, 40, 60, 120

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PRIME NUMBERS
Some Applications of Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
Finding Positive Divisors

Exercise.
Find all the positive divisors of the following positive integers:

i. 150 [Hint: 12 divisors]

ii. 228 [[Hint: 11 divisors]
iii. 4725: [ Hint: 24 divisors.]

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 PRIME NUMBERS
Some Applications of Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
Finding GCDs and LCMs

Theorem 3.

Let a and b be two positive integers greater than 1 such that:

be their prime factorizations, respectively, where each exponent is a nonnegative integer, and where all
primes occurring in the prime factorizations of a and b are included in both products, perhaps with 0
exponent. Let min (ki , li ), denote the minimum of the two numbers ki and li , and max (ki , li ), the larger, or
maximum, of the two numbers ki and li . Then,

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PRIME NUMBERS
Some Applications of Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
Finding GCDs and LCMs

Example.

Find gcd (720, 2100) and lcm (720, 2100)

Solution.

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PRIME NUMBERS
Some Applications of Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
Finding GCDs and LCMs

Example.

Solution.

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Primality Tests
Trial Division

Theorem 4 (Pythagoras)

The number 2 is irrational.

Theorem 5

If n is a composite, then n has a prime divisor not exceeding n .

Example. (Theorem 5)

n = 16 (composite number)

Positive divisor of 16 : 1, 2, 4, 8, 16
Prime divisor of 16: 2 Then, 2 is not exceeding 16 = 4 16 = 2.2.2.2

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Primility Tests
Trial Division

Example. (Theorem 5)

Let n = 509.

If 509 is not a prime, then by previous theorem, 509 has a prime

divisor not exceeding 509 = 22.6 .

22  22.6  23

the possible primes divisor that are not larger than 22 :

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19

However, it turns out that none of these primes divides 509. Hence,
n = 509 is a prime number.

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Primility Tests
Trial Division

Example. (Theorem 5)

Let n = 2093.

Then, 45  2093 = 45.7  46

The possible prime divisors: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43

2093 = 7 . 299
17  299  18

The possible prime divisors: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17

299 = 13 . 23
Then, 2093 = 7 . 13 . 23
Therefore, n = 2093 is a composite number.

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The Sieve of Eratosthenes

• Sometimes it not practically possible to find all prime numbers, since

we have already seen that there are an infinite number of them.

• The ancient Greek mathematician, poet, and scientist Eratosthenes

(3rd century BCE) suggested a relatively efficient method of
determining all prime numbers up to a certain number.

• The procedure of finding all primes less than or equal to a given

positive integer n is called The Sieve of Eratosthenes.

Example.

Finding all primes less than 100.

By Theorem 5

If any of the primes divides the number less than 100, then the number is a composite.

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The Sieve of Eratosthenes

All primes less than 100 are:

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97

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The Sieve of Eratosthenes

Example.

Finding all primes less than 50.

p  50 = 7.1 By Theorem 5

p = 2, 3, 5
If any of the primes divides the number less than 50, then the number is a composite.

All primes less than 50 are:

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47

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Two Conjectures About Primes

Twin Prime Conjecture

Twin Prime Conjecture

There are infinitely many pairs of primes p and p + 2.

Example.

3 and 5;
11 and 13;
17 and 19, ; . . . ;
1000000000061 and 1000000000063; . . .

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Two Conjectures About Primes

Goldbach Conjecture

Example.
Goldbach Conjecture

Every even positive integer greater than 2 can be

written as the sum of two primes.

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