What is the importance of prime numbers?

Greek people were the first to understand that every natural number different from 1 can be obtained through the product of two prime numbers. That’s why these special numbers were called “Building Blocks”, as they were pieces of a simple Lego that enabled the building of complex figures. There are lots of theorems about prime numbers as well as several conjectures that haven’t still been proved.

What makes the use of it important is the fact that the building of these blocks is unique, that is, each natural number is obtained through the multiplication of a unique set of prime numbers. Nevertheless, nowadays there isn’t any formula that enables us how to discover that set of numbers! And that’s why prime numbers play a very important role concerning cryptography. There are several popular algorithms used in the communication among computers, which make use of prime numbers in order to encrypt messages and so as to avoid the information we want to be private can be accessed by others. Even the best computers, that make lots and lots of calculations per second, need decades to find a set of prime numbers that are necessary to compose a certain natural number. It is obvious that the bigger the natural number is, the longer it will take!

Although the cryptography is the most known use of prime numbers nowadays, they are used in many other fields such as electronics, architecture, musical theory, etc.

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