11th April 2017, 7:37 AM
So apparently including 1 as a prime number was getting too messy when making lists of all non-primes as products of primes (they would always have to exclude 1 or they'd end up with infinite trailing lists of 1x1x1x1x2x2=4 and so on). So, 1 got kicked off the prime list because it made things too inclusive and too messy.
First Pluto isn't a planet any more, and now 1 isn't a prime number any more! Is nothing sacred?! Next you'll tell me that W isn't a letter.
First Pluto isn't a planet any more, and now 1 isn't a prime number any more! Is nothing sacred?! Next you'll tell me that W isn't a letter.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)