Exercise 326Number theory › PrimesL1Added 31 Oct 2026
There are infinitely many primes
#primes#proof by contradiction
Statement
Prove that there are infinitely many prime numbers.
Hint
Suppose there are finitely many, multiply them all and add .
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Solution
Suppose there are only finitely many primes . Let
Then has a prime divisor . This prime must be one of the , by assumption. But divides and divides , so it divides their difference , which is impossible.
This contradiction shows that the list of primes cannot be finite.