Everything2
Near Matches
Ignore Exact
Full Text
Everything2

Proof that all odd numbers are prime

created by Footprints

(person) by ariels (9.2 hr) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Wed Jan 02 2002 at 8:32:47

A running joke that has been running on for far too long. Every profession has a different proof that all odd numbers are prime (and yes, we assume that 1 is prime, even though 1 is not prime):
Mathematicians:
"1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime; the proof follows by induction"
Physicists:
"1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is experimental error, 11 is prime, 13 is prime, 15 is experimental error, 17 is prime, 19 is prime; the empirical evidence is overwhelming."
Engineers:
"1 is odd, 3 is odd, 5 is odd, 7 is odd, 9 is odd, 11 is odd, 13 is odd, 15 is odd, 17 is odd, 19 is odd, ..., 111 is odd, ..."
Psychologists:
"1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is latently prime but repressing it, 11 is prime, ..."
Computer scientists:
"1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 7 is prime, 7 is prime, 7 is prime, 7 is ..."

(idea) by Footprints (4.1 hr) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Wed Jan 02 2002 at 10:13:25

Damn you ariels, damn you to all eternity!!

I created this nodeshell upon remembering the joke, wishing to fill it after I finished my "research" - the research involving calling up the friends who were there when this joke was told for the hundredth time, and everyone put in their 2 cents worth. And ariels comes and beats me to it. So I shall just add the less obvious ones:

Economist:
Assume 9 is prime...

Pentium user:
1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 8.999983 is prime...

Unix user:
1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, ... Segmentation fault, Core dumped.

ZX-81 user:
1 is prime, 3 is prime, Out Of Memory.

Undergraduate:
Let p be any prime number larger than 2. Then p is not divisible by 2, so p is odd. QED

English major:
What's a prime number?

Athletic scholarship:
What's a number ?

Statistician:
Let us take a sample of odd numbers: 7, 13, 29, 37, 53 and 71 are prime. They are all prime, so all odd numbers must be prime.


printable version
chaos

1 is not prime All primes greater than 3 are of the form 6k-1 or 6k+1 False mathematical proofs Illegal prime number
1+2: An Interdisciplinary Study Prime number language QED Proof by oddity
Next time don't drop acid and down a dozen shots right before the rehearsal dinner Taylor polynomial Proof that there is no largest prime number Surprising toddler thoughts
American Girls 31337 The square of any prime number larger than 3 is a multiple of 12 plus 1 Bell jar
empirical knowledge An interview with Gene Ray The Odd Numbers Induction
How to get people to clean up their core dumps division by zero error How to determine whether a number is even or odd in any base prime
Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.
  Epicenter
Login
Password

password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Cool Staff Picks
Drink up!
Timon of Athens
Your job is to find kitten. This task is complicated by the existence of various things which are not kitten.
Chuck D's 18 Reasons why 2Pac is alive
Dozenal Society of America
on the rotations of the spheres
Summit in Savannah
Slaver Ants
Baba O'Riley
Yes! We have no bananas!
Max Clifford
Self-injury
Editor Log: December 2003
tree
New Writeups
aneurin
Earl of Landaff(person)
Heitah
Pseudocide(idea)
XWiz
Google Knol(lede)
Mythi
July 24, 2008(personal)
locke baron
The fall of Earth(fiction)
BookReader
Fear the Cold(dream)
Pavlovna
Kathleen MacInnes(person)
stainedglass
1(fiction)
kalen
Three "T"s(idea)
octillion369
Undead(idea)
archiewood
Ico(fiction)
Heisenberg
Why I love Everything2(log)
octillion369
Death Knight(person)
XWiz
Are you hoping for a miracle?(review)
santo
The Host(review)
Everything 2 is brought to you by the letter C and The Everything Development Company