The study of prime numbers has long been a central part of number theory, a field traditionally pursued for its own sake and for the mathematical beauty of its results. The number theorist Don Zagier once commented that “upon looking at prime numbers, one has the feeling of being in the presence of one of the inexplicable secrets of creation.”
A prime is a whole number (other than 1) that is evenly divisible by itself and 1. This simple definition leads to the following sequence of numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, and so on.