Abstract
The natural numbers are the positive integers 1,2,3,…. Perhaps the hoariest of mathematical jokes is that all the natural numbers are interesting! The proof is by induction and contradiction. Consider that the first natural number, unity, divides all the natural numbers. It is therefore “interesting.” Now let k be the least natural number that is not “interesting.” Is it then not “interesting” that k is the first noninteresting of the natural numbers? Ergo, all natural numbers are interesting.
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Hershey, J.E., Rao Yarlagadda, R.K. (1986). The Natural Numbers and Their Primes. In: Data Transportation and Protection. Applications of Communications Theory. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2195-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2195-8_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9290-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2195-8
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