Prime numbers are whole numbers greater than 1 that are not divisible by any whole number other than 1 and itself. The first few are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 … To explain how the RSA algorithm works ...

Today, people use complex computing networks to search for prime numbers with millions of digits. But early mathematicians were running these calculations by hand.

A basic feature of number theory, prime numbers are also a fundamental building block of computer science, from hashtables to cryptography.

UCLA mathematicians appear to have won a $100,000 prize from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for discovering a 13-million-digit prime number that has long been sought by computer users.

Math enthusiasts challenge one another to find special prime numbers, including those that are palindromes and Smarandache numbers ...

He was the first to find a pattern in how prime numbers occurred, and even has a type of prime number named after him, from which the image above is entirely drawn.

This number has 22,338,618 digits, the last of which is a 1, and is nearly 5 million digits longer than the previous record prime.

Fortunately, Édouard Lucas developed a prime number test in 1878, later proved by Derrick Henry Lehmer in 1930. Their work resulted in an efficient algorithm for evaluating potential Mersenne ...