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Home Q & A Board Science-Related Homework Help Mathematics
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ddmmk ddmmk
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9 years ago
Supposedly all prime numbers have only two factors... 1 and itself. But dont they technically have four factors, since -1 and -itself could also be factors? For example...

17 is a prime number
1 x 17 = 17

however...

-1 x -17 = 17

so it has four factors.... right?
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#1
9 years ago
negative numbers don't apply to prime and composite numbers, the point of learning prime and composite is so you can factor quadratic equations later in algebra.
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#2
9 years ago
In formal number theory, they probably are careful to start by saying they're only considering the natural numbers, 1, 2, 3, ...
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#3
9 years ago
No. This prime number factorization applies to the set of natural numbers {1, 2, 3, 4, ...} only.
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#4
9 years ago
Prime numbers are defined as positive whole numbers greater than one.  Not a bad question though.  I hope I helped.
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dashaalynndashaalynn
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9 years ago
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