In number theory, the phrase primes in arithmetic progression refers to at least three prime numbers that are consecutive terms in an arithmetic progression, for example the primes (3, 7, 11) (it does not matter that 5 is also prime).
There are arbitrarily long, but not infinitely long, sequences of primes in arithmetic progression. Sometimes (not in this article) the term may also be used about primes which belong to a given arithmetic progression but are not necessarily consecutive terms. Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions states: If a and b are coprime, then the arithmetic progression a·n + b contains infinitely many primes.
For integer k ≥ 3, an AP-k (also called PAP-k) is k primes in arithmetic progression. An AP-k can be written as k primes of the form a·n + b, for fixed integers a (called the common difference) and b, and k consecutive integer values of n. An AP-k is usually expressed with n = 0 to k − 1. This can always be achieved by defining b to be the first prime in the arithmetic progression.
Read more about Primes In Arithmetic Progression: Properties, Largest Known Primes in AP, Consecutive Primes in Arithmetic Progression, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words arithmetic and/or progression:
“Your discovery of the contradiction caused me the greatest surprise and, I would almost say, consternation, since it has shaken the basis on which I intended to build my arithmetic.... It is all the more serious since, with the loss of my rule V, not only the foundations of my arithmetic, but also the sole possible foundations of arithmetic seem to vanish.”
—Gottlob Frege (1848–1925)
“Measured by any standard known to science—by horse-power, calories, volts, mass in any shape,—the tension and vibration and volume and so-called progression of society were full a thousand times greater in 1900 than in 1800;Mthe force had doubled ten times over, and the speed, when measured by electrical standards as in telegraphy, approached infinity, and had annihilated both space and time. No law of material movement applied to it.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)