composite number

Also known as: nonprime number

Learn about this topic in these articles:

arithmetic

  • A page from a first-grade workbook typical of “new math” might state: “Draw connecting lines from triangles in the first set to triangles in the second set. Are the two sets equivalent in number?”
    In arithmetic: Fundamental theory

    …1, then c is called composite. A positive integer neither 1 nor composite is called a prime number. Thus, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, … are prime numbers. The ancient Greek mathematician Euclid proved in his Elements (c. 300 bc) that there are infinitely many prime numbers.

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factors

  • In factor

    …than two factors is termed composite. The prime factors of a number or an algebraic expression are those factors which are prime. By the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, except for the order in which the prime factors are written, every whole number larger than 1 can be uniquely expressed as…

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