Like physics, math has its own set of “fundamental particles”—the prime numbers, which can’t be broken down into smaller natural numbers. They can only be divided by themselves and 1. And in a new ...

One of my favorite anecdotes about prime numbers concerns Alexander Grothendieck, who was among the most brilliant mathematicians of the 20th century. According to one account, he was once asked to ...

Other than for their use in cryptography, prime numbers might not be on your list of favorite topics, but prime numbers have some very interesting qualities. It’s probably been a while since you ...