How to Use Twin Primes in Everyday Life

A prime number is a whole number greater than one whose only divisors---the only numbers that divide evenly into it---are itself and the number one. Twin prime numbers are primes separated by two digits, such as five and seven or 17 and 19. Besides being mysterious to mathematicians, twin primes might have several applications to everyday life.

Instructions

    • 1

      Use twin primes for encryption. Twin primes are employed in algorithms developed for communication security and for the transmission and compression of information --- in cell phones, for example. Computers might use twin primes to protect money transfers between banks.

    • 2

      Advance the cause of mathematics. When you start looking for twin primes, preferably with a large computer, you keep finding them. No one has discovered whether or not there is an infinite number of twin primes --- it's one of the unsolved problems of mathematics. The proof --- one way or another --- is out there waiting.

    • 3

      Revel at the complexity in simplicity. While twin primes are the ultimate simple things --- they can be divided only by themselves and one --- they are deeply puzzling. Norwegian mathematician Viggo Brun proved in 1919 that the sum of the reciprocals of successive twin primes, converges to a value now called Brun's Constant, indicating that twin primes, while relatively scarce, might be infinite in number.

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