What is a prime number?
Prime numbers are special numbers, greater than 1, that have exactly two factors, themselves and 1.
19 is a prime number. It can only be divided by 1 and 19.
9 is not a prime number. It can be divided by 3 as well as 1 and 9.
The prime numbers below 20 are:
2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19
The number 1 is not a prime number as it only has one factor.
Watch: Prime numbers
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Teaching resources
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More on Factors, multiples and primes
Find out more by working through a topic
- count4 of 4
- count1 of 4
- count2 of 4
