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First strong law of small numbers
There aren't enough small numbers to meet the many demands made of them.
— Richard K. Guy
The first strong law of small numbers is known as the strong law of small numbers.
This law is a warning against drawing conclusions based on the observation of a few small numbers. For example, a quarter of the first hundred positive integers are prime numbers, whereas the formula suggests only 21 or 22 are primes; of the first ten million, 664579 are prime but the formula suggests only 620420 or 620421 are prime: even some of the greatest minds of the 19 th century were misled away from the prime number theorem as they tried various adjustments to the formula, unaware that for large enough numbers, the adjustment is unnecessary.
See also
External links
- Richard K. Guy, The Strong Law of Small Numbers.
- Richard K. Guy, The Second Strong Law of Small Numbers.