Prime numbers

[Claudio L.]

(03-24-2016 11:59 AM)Tugdual Wrote:  Regarding the original topic, I believe that considering digits is never a good idea. Digits are just the letters in a certain base that form words to represent a number. The number as a whole means something while the first digit (base 10) is the number modulo 10.
To go further, let's consider the prime numbers expressed in base 2. First digit would always be 1 otherwise it would be an even number, hence not prime. OMG 100% of the prime numbers start with a 1!! Shall we conclude anything? Obviously no, so studying the digits of a number seem pointless to me.
Always intersted to get your feedback.

Hehe, you looked at the digits to tell if the number was odd or even, didn't you? :-)
So you do get some useful information by looking at the digits. However, actively looking for more information in those digits seems like a waste of time nowadays.
I agree studying the statistical distribution of digits in prime numbers seems dumb, but then I'm an engineer, and mathematicians probably think designing things is dumb, but then find looking at the digits of Pi truly fascinating, to each his own.
Some people thought this was a discovery worth publishing a paper, so at least somebody thinks it's cool to know. Not my case though, and I don't think it brings mankind closer to anything.