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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