Non-Prime Numbers – Fascinating Fact
One of last week’s Brain Teasers asked if you could find five consecutive numbers, none of which is prime*. (We call such numbers [other than 1] composite.) This isn’t too hard, if you look: The first such string occurs at 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28. Another starts at 32, and another at 48, . . .
If you’re curious about these things, you might wonder: Could you find 6 straight composites? How about 10? 20? Or, as a middle schooler might ask, ‘Can you find a million?? What would be the largest string you could find? For the fascinating answer to these questions, and an even-more-surprising result, see Consecutive Composites.