They have two factors, which are 1 and the number itself.

Special properties:

1. The only even prime number is 2.

2. All numbers can be expressed as the product of prime numbers.

3. Writing a number as a product of prime numbers is called a prime factorization of the number.

Example: 34866 = 2 * 3 * 3 * 13 * 149

4. Primes are central in number theory because of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. The theorem states that ” Every natural number greater than 1 is either a prime itself or can be factorized as a product of primes that is unique up to their order”.

5 A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers.