My favourite prime

Toby Farman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I will confess, I got a little excited over the Christmas break when I began hearing of youngsters discussing their favourite prime.

For me, it has to be 2 – both the first prime, and also, uniquely, the only even prime.

The word prime is derived from the Latin “primis” meaning first (the prime numbers are the first numbers as all other numbers (integers) are subsequently made from the “primis” numbers by multiplying them), so 2 could be said to be the “prime prime” (prime squared, anyone? OK, I’m taking possibly taking a few liberties here …!)

But my excitement was to be short lived when a realised that they were talking about some new drink, a new craze that, like so many new crazes, had passed me by.

I write this post at the dawn of a new year, when it is customary to make predictions about what will unfold in the coming twelve months. Well here’s a prediction from me: this time next year the excitement over the prime drink will have waned, but the prime numbers will still be there for us, the building blocks of all other integers, and 2 will still be my favourite, the prime prime.

[And now an apology/explanation from me. Looking back, I realise it has been nearly two years since I posted. We were still in the second lockdown – teaching from home – when I wrote my last post. I think in the excitement of returning to the physical classroom I lost my writing mojo, and struggled to find any inspiration for what to write. I have challenged myself to put that write in 2023, writing at least once a month. We are all full of good intentions in January, let’s see if I am good to my word]