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Extending Babbage’s (Non-)Primality Tests

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Combinatorial and Additive Number Theory II (CANT 2015, CANT 2016)

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics ((PROMS,volume 220))

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Abstract

We recall Charles Babbage’s 1819 criterion for primality, based on simultaneous congruences for binomial coefficients, and extend it to a least-prime-factor test. We also prove a partial converse of his non-primality test, based on a single congruence. Along the way we encounter Bachet, Bernoulli, Bézout, Euler, Fermat, Kummer, Lagrange, Lucas, Vandermonde, Waring, Wilson, Wolstenholme, and several contemporary mathematicians.

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  1. 209 West 97th Street, 10025, New York, NY, USA

    Jonathan Sondow

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  1. Jonathan Sondow
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Correspondence to Jonathan Sondow .

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  1. Department of Mathematics, Lehman College (CUNY), Bronx, New York, USA

    Melvyn B. Nathanson

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Sondow, J. (2017). Extending Babbage’s (Non-)Primality Tests. In: Nathanson, M. (eds) Combinatorial and Additive Number Theory II. CANT CANT 2015 2016. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 220. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68032-3_19

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