Prime List of Primes

by Dick Sietz
in the Virginia Mathematics Teacher

 

Here is a prime list of 31 prime "facts" obtained by investigating the website Prime Curios: http://primes.utm.edu/curios/

2     The planet Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos.
3     Racing legend Dale Earnhardt drove car #3.
5     The American 5-cent piece weighs 5 grams.
7     A horseshoe, symbol of good luck, has holes for 7 nails.
11     There are 11 stars in Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night.
13     A baker's dozen is a group of 13.
17     The Parthenon is 17 columns long.
19     The Statue of Liberty's torch shines through leaded glass, illuminated by 19 lamps.
23     Human beings have 23 pair of chromosomes.
29     The human skull is made up of 29 bones.
31     Speed limit in downtown Trenton, Tennessee.
37     The normal body temperature for humans is 37 degrees Celsius.
41     A molecule of penicillin has 41 atoms.
43     It requires 43 muscles to frown.
47     Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts mentions the "fact" that mosquitoes have 47 teeth.
53     There are 53 prime days in a leap year.
59     The largest recorded wave in the Atlantic was 59 feet.
61     Roger Maris ended the season with 61 home runs in '61.
67     The state of South Dakota has 67 counties.
71     The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the world's fastest jet.
73     The record number of major league home runs hit in one season is 73.
79     Pompeii was buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
83     The TI-83 is a programmable graphing calculator.
89     The US Air Force 89th Presidential Airlift Group consists of the President's Air Force One airplanes.
97     There are 97 leap days every 400 years in the Gregorian calendar.
101     One Hundred and One Dalmatians is one of Walt Disney's best cartoon films.
103     The world's largest tree is the General Sherman Tree, a sequoia in Sequoia National Park, California. The trunk has a circumference of 103 feet.
107     Rudy Giuliani was the 107th mayor of New York City.
109     The boat PT 109 was commanded by future President John Kennedy during World War II.
113     Element number 113 is called Ununtrium.
127     The thickness of a human hair is approximately 1/127 inch.


Links:

Prime Pages

Prime Curios!

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search

Recreational & Educational Computing

Math Facts Page

Handley Math Home Page