Friday, August 16, 2024

Prime Number Magnet

(Image: https://opensource.org/license/MIT)


In a prior post the property of all prime numbers greater than 3 can be expressed as 6n +/-1. A question that may arise from this property is whether all multiples of 6 are adjacent to a prime. The short answer is no, but one needs to review all multiples of 6 up to 120 before one finds the first multiple of 6 that is not adjacent to a prime number. 

Examples:

1 x 6 = 6 is adjacent to primes 5 and 7

2 x 6 = 12 is adjacent to primes 11 and 13

3 x 6 = 13 is adjacent to primes 17 and 19

4 x 6 = 24 is adjacent to prime 23

At 20 x 6 = 120 is adjacent to 119 (composite 7 x 17) and 121 (composite 11 x 11)

As with many patterns of integers, it is always worth checking the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. We find that sequence {120,144,186,204,216,246,288,300...}

multiples of 6 that are not a prime number +/- 1 is sequence A259826.

Note: the first entry at 120 occurs after the first prime number gap >8 which is between 113 and 127.

Related posts on prime numbers:

https://jamesmacmath.blogspot.com/2020/05/prime-number-gap-conjectures.html

https://jamesmacmath.blogspot.com/2020/05/prime-number-gaps.html

https://jamesmacmath.blogspot.com/2020/05/prime-numbers-property-rediscovered.html

https://jamesmacmath.blogspot.com/2020/05/twin-prime-sandwich.html

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