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sci.math  Topic: 2 simple? questions and proposed answers
Advanced Search  Kent Holing  Posts: 342 Registered: 12/3/04 2
simple? questions and proposed answers Posted: Jan 6, 2012 10:27
AM  I often get the following two questions from my non-
mathematician friends.  Q1: Why is 1 not a prime? (It divides
only 1 and itself.)  Q2: For a, b positive integers (say), why
is (-a)(-b) = ab?  I could answer as follows (but with not
exactly good success):  Answer to Q1: If 1 is considered
(defined) as a prime, then the fundamenal theorem of arithmetic
is not true; and we mathematicians do not like that! Laymen
response: !???  Answer to Q2: If not, the distributive law is
not true, and we mathematicians do not like that either! Laymen
response: !???  Do we have any better answers for our laymen
friends?  Kent holing,   [Privacy Policy] [Terms of Use]  ©
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