Mathematicians have found a new way to identify prime numbers

For the first time in more than 25 years, mathematicians have demonstrated a new way to identify prime numbers, developing a toolkit that could lead to further advances in number theory.

Prime numbers, divisible by themselves or by only one, are the mathematical building blocks of whole numbers, and mathematicians have studied how to find and combine them for hundreds of years. “New results on premiums don’t come that often, so when we get a new development, we feel it’s worth it,” he says. Benjamin Green…