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Prime Numbers Puzzles
thedukeofrock
Member Posts: 168 Arc User
Greetings fellow STO players,
I am writing this thread due to some confusion regarding prime numbers. I have had some feedback in a couple of my Foundry missions due to the sequence I use.
I always considered 1 as a prime as it fits the criteria of a prime and used it initially in my puzzles. I soon discovered that according to "official" prime numbers charts, 1 is not an "official" prime number. I made the change in my puzzles to reflect the official prime numbers and have received some negative feedback in a couple of cases as I did not start the primes with a 1.
The "official" primes start with a 2 even though 1 fits the criteria of a prime number,
This is the official definition of a prime number:
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2 and 3 in addition to 1 and 6. The fundamental theorem of arithmetic establishes the central role of primes in number theory: any integer greater than 1 can be expressed as a product of primes that is unique up to ordering. This theorem requires excluding 1 as a prime.
I am just curious as to others thoughts on this subject as it does seem a good deal of folks consider 1 to be a prime as I did and are willing to argue to that point.
Duke-of-Rock
I am writing this thread due to some confusion regarding prime numbers. I have had some feedback in a couple of my Foundry missions due to the sequence I use.
I always considered 1 as a prime as it fits the criteria of a prime and used it initially in my puzzles. I soon discovered that according to "official" prime numbers charts, 1 is not an "official" prime number. I made the change in my puzzles to reflect the official prime numbers and have received some negative feedback in a couple of cases as I did not start the primes with a 1.
The "official" primes start with a 2 even though 1 fits the criteria of a prime number,
This is the official definition of a prime number:
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2 and 3 in addition to 1 and 6. The fundamental theorem of arithmetic establishes the central role of primes in number theory: any integer greater than 1 can be expressed as a product of primes that is unique up to ordering. This theorem requires excluding 1 as a prime.
I am just curious as to others thoughts on this subject as it does seem a good deal of folks consider 1 to be a prime as I did and are willing to argue to that point.
Duke-of-Rock
ABI-Artificial Borg Intelligence by Duke-of-Rock Available on Holodeck
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Also play Spawn of Medusa - The 5 Part series
by Duke-of-Rock Available on Holodeck
by Duke-of-Rock Available on Holodeck
Post edited by thedukeofrock on
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This is why i do not consider 1 a prime number.
≡/\≡
Edit: TNG and Voyager both use this means of communication at some point. I should rewatch them and see if it's possible to tell where they start the sequence. It's not uncommon in science fiction to botch the concept of mathematical communication by starting important number sequences wrong.
Don't change your mission because some people are wrong when thinking you are wrong.
This^^
You have the actual definition/criteria for your Prime numbers game, you stick with it. Maybe some people will get a little better math eduacation thanks to you.
It's like the commonly misunderstood/mislabeled Daddy Long Legs spider.
Registered: Oct/2009 , LTS : Feb/2011
Fleets: Warriors of the Phoenix, Kirian Industries[/SIGPIC]
Three years and still no Captain Klaa hair...
My only advice is to offer a help tab with key for more in depth explanation, but part of trek is viguring out the mystery.
Thank you
Again, this! Don't change your mission because others are wrong. I'm not a math genius, but I understand the logic that 1 isn't a Prime. You can't really divide or multiply 1 by itself, you still get 1. There's no change in the outcome so no effect actually took place, therefore you can't divide 1 or multiply it. I'm sure others would argue this, and I'm sure they will. But if you look at it that way, when there is no difference from the starting figure to the result, logically there has been no action. :P
That's a first in a long time...
Still... Stick with it... Take the hit in ratings, but do not alter your mission because some people are too ignorant of how stuff works.
Sorry... It was a moment of mass insanity. It won't happen again. Please forgive us...
My character Tsin'xing
I can see it already:
Sicence officer:
Ok let me spell it out for you...
1, as in ONE, is NOT a Prime doofus.
[ Continue ]
Seriously, that is hilarious.
My character Tsin'xing
the only thing is to be weary of puzzles that have misconceptions from the general population in future. i would never use BODMAS equations because most people dont have a clue the order of operations and while its their own problem, you take the hit for it, so its safer for you to just avoid them altogether.
Another thing you could do is have "1" be included, and have the science officer complain it's not prime, and allow the player to cut him off.
However, unless your goal is to prevent a large percentage of the players from completing your mission for reasons they can't easily perceive, I wouldn't just plow ahead and ignore feedback. Your mission will wind up not being seen or played by anyone if that happens, and who benefits from that? Neither you nor your fellow players.
That being said, *EVERY* mission gets some bad reviews. I've had one-star reviews from people who experienced lag in their clients; like I've got control over that. Or others who had bugged loot drop. I've pulled "Franklin Drake Must Die" from the Foundry before and refactored it because of well-known game bugs that were causing me to get one-star reviews. It happens; you either fix it or you nuke the mission and save yourself a slot for something else.
You might just have to bite the bullet and refactor for another puzzle.
I'd say let the player try and fail once, and then add the option to have the puzzle solved for them. That would be sort of like how in the "Night of the Comet" mission, you get three tries to manually fly through the gravity catapults, and if you fail all three, then your BOFF does it automatically for you.
I agree on the ratings, I've had some for ridiculous reasons as well on occasion. I really wasn't trying to dissuade them, I was really just curious how the STO community saw Prime numbers and from what I can see, they understand them pretty well. Thanks to all the responses. I thought it would be interesting to open a "scientific" thread of sorts as well, even though most folks hate math, lol
P.S. Also some interesting ideas on bypassing them, but I think for now I will keep everything as it is and not give to easy a way out. After all, that is the purpose of a puzzle, to be solved, and with google search of primes, it is really not difficult to do these days, just takes a little effort.
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by Duke-of-Rock Available on Holodeck
As someone who was baffled what I was doing wrong (because I had been taught 20 years ago that 1 was prime), I eventually alt-tabbed and wikied the list of primes. We have that tech.
Oh god. There was a mission I did the other day that was driving me nuts because of that - an unmarked "5 + 3 * 2 = " is 11, not 16, to my brain!