Is It Proved That All Primes End With 1,3,7,9?

  • Thread starter wellorderingp
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Primes
In summary, it has been observed that all prime numbers end with digits 1, 3, 7, or 9, with the exception of 5. This is proven by the fact that no prime numbers can be even or end in 5, as they would then be divisible by 2 or 5. However, it has been proven by Dirichlet's theorem that there are about an equal number of primes that end in 1, 3, 7, or 9. This information is useful for prime identification and has been utilized in numerical-search algorithms.
  • #1
wellorderingp
23
0
So it was my observation that all the prime numbers I saw ended with digits 1,3,7,9.Is this true for all primes? Is it proved?
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
  • #2
With an exception to 5
 
  • #3
Consider: With the exception of 2, no primes can be even, as if they are even, then they are divisible by 2.

Therefore, all primes must end in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9.

Consider: With the exception of 5, no primes can end in 5, as if they do so, then they are a multiple of 5.

Therefore, all primes must end in 1, 3, 7, or 9.

So... yes.

If you need a proof of either of the considered statements, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult.
 
  • #4
bah, beat me to it. :)
 
  • #5
Yeah that was pretty simple :) thanks anyways
 
  • #6
Simple, maybe, but it's still helpful for prime identification. Considering that just those two little rules invalidate over 60% of all natural numbers from being prime, it allows you (or a computer) to focus more easily upon the other 40%.
 
  • #8
dkotschessaa said:
You might find this interesting. This is more numerical-search than proofy stuff:http://korn19.ch/coding/primes/ending.php

Interesting. This means to me that there are about as many primes that end in 3, as there are primes that end in 1 (or 7 or 9). I wonder if this has been proven.
 

FAQ: Is It Proved That All Primes End With 1,3,7,9?

1. Is it true that all prime numbers end with 1, 3, 7, or 9?

No, it is not true that all prime numbers end with 1, 3, 7, or 9. While many prime numbers do end with these digits, there are also prime numbers that end with other digits such as 2, 5, or 9.

2. Why do many people believe that all prime numbers end with 1, 3, 7, or 9?

This is likely due to the fact that these are the only digits that can appear in the ones place of a prime number other than 2 and 5 (which are not considered prime numbers). Therefore, many people may mistakenly assume that all prime numbers must end with these digits.

3. Are there any patterns or rules for the digits that prime numbers can end with?

No, there are no specific patterns or rules for the digits that prime numbers can end with. Prime numbers can end with any digit except 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8.

4. Can a prime number end with the same digit as the number itself?

Yes, it is possible for a prime number to end with the same digit as the number itself. For example, 11 is a prime number and it ends with the digit 1. However, this is not always the case as there are also prime numbers that end with different digits than the number itself.

5. How can we prove that not all prime numbers end with 1, 3, 7, or 9?

We can prove this by finding examples of prime numbers that end with digits other than 1, 3, 7, or 9. For instance, 2 and 5 are both prime numbers that do not end with these digits. Additionally, we can use mathematical proofs to show that there is no rule or pattern that restricts prime numbers to only ending with 1, 3, 7, or 9.

Similar threads

Replies
17
Views
2K
Replies
3
Views
789
Replies
3
Views
994
Replies
1
Views
955
Replies
3
Views
1K
Back
Top