A prime number (often simply called a prime) is a natural number which can only be divided exactly by 1 and itself. An infinite number of prime numbers exists.

Primes to 250

2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29
31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71
73 79 83 89 97 101 103 107 109 113
127 131 137 139 149 151 163 167 173 179
181 191 193 197 199 211 223 227 229 233
239 241

The number two is the only even prime, all the others are odd. Two is a prime number because it can only be made by multiplying 2 by 1. Four is not a prime number as it can be made by multiplying 2 by 2.

The number 1 is a special case, and is not considered a prime number.

Did you know?

Prime numbers form are an essential part of internet security due to the principle that multiplication of large integers is easy, but finding the prime factors of the product is much harder.