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Re:Why isn't 1 a prime number? by kdmccormick on Sunday April 28, 2019 @10:55AM (#19771407)
All positive integers can be written as a product of primes, where a product is a sequence of numbers that are multiplied together. In the case of a composite number like 45, the primes are (3,3,5).

When the sequence has one element, then that element is the product. So, 2 is the product of (2).

When the sequence is empty, the product is 1.

Re:Why isn't 1 a prime number? by mintplant on Sunday April 28, 2019 @03:58PM (#19773313)
Furthermore, the ordered sequence of primes that multiply to any given positive integer is unique. If 1 were considered prime, that wouldn't hold, as you could keep adding as many 1s as you like to the start of the sequence: (1,3,3,5), (1,1,3,3,5), etc. Thus 1 encodes no useful information here.
Re:Why isn't 1 a prime number? by theoh on Sunday April 28, 2019 @01:33PM (#19772402)
This is explained more formally here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_product
Re:Why isn't 1 a prime number? by skoskie on Sunday April 28, 2019 @03:44PM (#19773238)
As a total layman, I think this is my favorite definition so far.