Quoting "Stan E. Isaacs" <stan@isaacs.com>:
I had a student in my computer class ask me a mathematics question: she asked what was the use of prime numbers? She knew there were lots of work done on primes, but what she wanted to know was, what *good* are they, besides being a fascination to math people. ....
I was going to mention the incommensurable breeding cycle of locusts but someone beat me to it. But how about turning the question around and asking about what good are non-primes? Suppose we had 23 hour days, or sold bread in baker's dozens, or (heaven forbid) tried to use the metric system. There wouldn't be any half-pints of beer, or packaging eggs in rectangular crates or doleing out pizza slices at a kids' birthday party. By knowing where the primes lie, we can avoid all this anguish. - hvm ------------------------------------------------- www.correo.unam.mx UNAMonos Comunicándonos