Prime numbers lie at the core of some of the oldest and most perplexing questions in mathematics. Evenly divisible only by themselves and 1, they are the building blocks of integers. In recent decades, prime numbers have emerged from their starring roles in mathematical research (SN: 5/25/02, p. 324: Available to subscribers at Prime Effort: Powerful conjecture may be proved) by becoming prized commodities–as elements in a cryptographic scheme widely used to keep digital messages secret (SN: 2/6/99, p.
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