Solution 1: There are an infinite number of prime numbers

Here is the solution to Problem 1: Prove that there are an infinite number of prime numbers.


Note:  The argument makes use of proof by contradiction.  If you are not familiar with this type of argument, a tutorial can be found here and you can watch a video here.


Claim:  There are an infinite number of prime numbers.

(1)  Assume that there are only a finite number of prime numbers.

(2)  Let x be the largest such prime.  

(3)  It follows that x! is divisible by all primes. 

Note:  x! is the factorial for x.  If you are not familiar, you can learn about factorials here or see a video here.

(4)  But then, no prime divides x!+1 since all such divisions will have a remainder of 1.

(5)  Thus, we have a contradiction and can reject our assumption in step 1.

Either x!+1>x is a prime itself (which contradicts our assumption in step 1 that x is the largest prime number) or x!+1 is composite and divisible by a prime number greater than x (which also contradicts this same assumption in step 1).

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