deffinition of prime and composite numbers?

Answer 1

The set of natural numbers = {1, 2, 3, ...}

Prime Number - A natural number n>1 that has no factors other than 1 and n.

Composite Number - A natural number n>1 that is not prime.

Also, by definition, 0 and 1 are neither prime nor composite.

Answer 2

A prime number is a number that has no exact divisor other than a unit or itself (or the product of itself and a unit). A unit is a number which has a multiplicative inverse (e.g., if 1/x exists in the number system, then x is a unit). In the integers, the only units are 1 and -1.

A composite number is a number that can be exactly divided by a number other than itself or a unit. A better way to express it is to say that a composite number can be represented as the product of two numbers, neither of which is a unit nor the product of itself by a unit.

In the integers, 7 is a prime because no other number can divide it (other than 7, 1, -1 or -7).

In the integers, 12 is a composite number because it can be divided by 3 which is neither a unit nor a product of 12 by a unit. Expressed another way; 12 = 3 * 4 (neither 3 nor 4 are units or products of 12 by a unit).

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This definition works with other systems of numbers where units (and non-units) can be identified. That is why it sounds a bit more complicated than the aswers you got from the others (which are still good definitions to use with positive integers)

Answer 3

A prime number has no more than 2 factors. A composite number has more than 2 factors.

Answer 4

A prime number is a natural number that has no factors other than itself and one.
A composite number is an integer that is not = 1 or 0 and not prime.
There's lots of information online about primes. Here's a few good ones...
http://primes.utm.edu/notes/faq/
http://primes.utm.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number

Answer 5

a prime number can only be divided by 1 and itself
example: 1,3,5,7,11,23

a composite number is when you can divide more than 2 numbers into it
example: 8,10,6,11

Answer 6

7- P 12- C 17- P 28- C 37- P 45- C 79- P 88- C 72- C 59- P 94- C 2- this is the only even PRIME number 81- C

Answer 7

prime no. is one which can only be divided by 1 and itself while composite no. have other
factors

Answer 8

a prime is a number whose factors are only 1 and itself
ex: 5 has 1 and 5
7 has1 and 7
composite is a number consists of other primes
ex: 15 has 1,3,5,15