How is it a "puzzle"? It's a coincidence, or a feature of mathematics but what is so puzzling about it? Tell me why math has this feature, and then you will be on to something. The article alludes to "why" but doesn't spell it out, and I don't think that it is possible to say why prime numbers have this feature, that's just the way it is.
"How is it a "puzzle"? It's a coincidence, or a feature of mathematics but what is so puzzling about it? Tell me why math has this feature, and then you will be on to something. The article alludes to "why" but doesn't spell it out, and I don't think that it is possible to say why prime numbers have this feature, that's just the way it is."
No such thing as a "coincidence" in math. If one things operates in a given way, all related fields act the same way. It's how our logic grasps it.
Think of pi. Is 3.141592653... in all circles a coincidence? Or does it have implications in how we handle geometry?
The question is meaningless if there can be no answer.
In math you can find interesting patterns or way numbers work, but it's all just an idea until someone can mathematically prove it. It was thought this pattern extended to all prime numbers, but it was only a thought, a guess. This grad student proved it.
Excellent point. It raises so many interesting points. Are numbers an invention by man, in which case this is just a strange accident. If not an invention of man, what are they? Did they always exist? How did they come to exist? Are numbers evolving? Do they exist independent of sentient beings? Do numbers prove that God exists? The "why" question then becomes very intersting.
I have to rest now, my head hurts.