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Column

Prime Cuts

Wednesday, December 22, 1999

  • "December 21 is the shortest day of the year" Until I was about 37 I thought that meant I wasn't getting the entire 24 hours for my birthday as everyone else.

  • "… birthdays which are prime numbers …" For a list of the first 1000 prime numbers go here:

    For the largest known prime number go here:

    As long as were making everyone's eyes glaze over, there is a difference between a prime number and a perfect. A perfect number is a positive integer whose value if it is equal to the sum of all of its positive divisors, excluding itself.

    For example, 6 is the first perfect number because 6=1+2+3. The next is 28=1+2+4+7+14. The next two are 496 and 8128.

    Interestingly, for all the attention being paid to it, 2000 is neither a prime nor a perfect number. 1999 is a prime number, but 2001 is not. The next prime numbered year will be 2003.

  • "Sam asked if he was speaking to Dustin Hoffman." Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of an autistic man in the 1988 movie "Rain Man." Go here: for a quick review of the film.

    Hoffman's character was what is known - probably VERY politically incorrectly - as an "idiot savant" for his mathematical abilities. There are a number of recorded cases of such people being able to instantly tell if a number is prime or not, without having the slightest ability to do simple addition or subtraction.

  • "The FBI recovered a painting …" Pee Wee Herman was a character invented by actor Paul Reubens - no relation to the artist who was born about 375 years earlier. For a biography of Peter Paul Reubens, go here:

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