Re: JSH: Math journals do not just die

Tm Peters wrote:

[josephus]

It is not intuitively obvious that the difference bwteen two primes is
an even number


[Tim Peters]

Your intuition could use a tuneup ;-) These are the primes:

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, ...

Note that, except for 2, they're all odd: no even integer greater than
2 can be a prime, because every even number is divisible 2. And the
difference between two odd integers is always even (that has nothing
directly to do with primes, it applies to the difference of any odd
integers). Therefore if p and q are any two primes greater than 2, p-q
is even.


[josephus]

mea culpa. I am NOT A MATHEMATICIAN. but I figure if I tried I could
not do worse than James Harris.


Hey, you already did far better than he usually manages: given a clear
explanation of what you were wondering about, you actually read it,
gave it some thought, and learned something.

BTW, you don't need to be a mathematician to understand the issues here
(although it certainly helps ;-)). "Elementary" explanations of almost
all the technical issues are possible here, although since they were
already given in other newsgroups, I haven't repeated many of them here
again. If you're puzzled about any of them, feel free to ask. Most
people who reply to JSH enjoy sharing what they've learned, and I've
also learned from others' futile attempts to explain something to him.
After all, we're all ignorant about most things!

I know more about celstial mechics. but numer theory interests me even if my ignronce makes jh look smart.

a side note. are there any useful links and papers a low level fellow like me could beef up what I know about number theory.

josephus


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: JSH: Math journals do not just die
    ... [Tim Peters] ... Note that, except for 2, they're all odd: ... Therefore if p and q are any two primes greater than 2, ...
    (sci.skeptic)
  • Re: Formulating sentences in a possibly consistent ZF
    ... You might be interested to know that Goldbach's weak conjecture, ... every integer greater than 5 can be written as the sum of 3 primes, ... single odd ... on Dedekind's property of infinity. ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: My talk about Godel to the post-grads.
    ... the union is what is in A or B or both. ... The set of primes is really the property of being prime. ... Those numbers that have the property of being odd can be referred to ... My original objection was that without a prior bringing together of A and B we could not announce AuB when only A plays an actual role in it. ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: Formulating sentences in a possibly consistent ZF
    ... You might be interested to know that Goldbach's weak conjecture, ... every integer greater than 5 can be written as the sum of 3 primes, ... we can't define odd numbers in the same manner! ... on Dedekind's property of infinity. ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: sums of divisors
    ... No odd squares are both 'neat' and 'slim' ... Call a number n 'slim' if only one ... since c does not divide ... Call the primes that divide into any ...
    (sci.math)