Prime Numbers Puzzles

thedukeofrock

Greetings fellow STO players,

I am writing this thread due to some confusion regarding prime numbers. As some of you know, I use prime numbers puzzles in a few of my missions and have had some negative 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

markhawkman

I've always used the "greater than 1" definition of primes.

nagorak

I guess if the greater than one thing is the official definition then that is the one you should use. I agree that many probably don't know that 1 isn't technically a prime.

But more importantly than that, you really use the same basic puzzle in many of your missions? Maybe you should consider switching things up a bit?

markhawkman

Yeah, good point. that does seem a bit tiresome.

thedukeofrock

I actually only used the Prime numbers in puzzles twice out of 9 missions. I use several other types of puzzles in my missions as well. I was merely curious what the community knowledge was regarding primes. It is interesting the amount of different views I received in this on the General discussion forums.

nagorak

Well, is it possible for you to simply make mention of the fact that 1 doesn't count as a prime number? Maybe have the player's science boff make an annoying observation about how many people think 1 is a prime number.

lordxenite

thedukeofrock wrote: »

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.

Were I you, to resolve this issue, I'd simply write my puzzles with 2 as the lowest prime used.

naharikajal

Well I like that kind of puzzles in your missions. It brings back some of these "Point-and-Click"-Adventures-Memories where you had to "think"

I've played some of the classics (Indy, Monkey, Tentacles) back in the days before you could find Walkthrougs in the internet easily. So I grew up with... well... "challenges".

I still remember the moment when I played your AFI mission with the calculation puzzle. I was too lazy to do it in my head so I used my cell-phone (Touchpad). It was great because it gave me that extra Star Trek feeling (Touchpad = ST PADD). I am a role player.. I loved it

Also I don't understand players who complain about puzzles like this. It's so easy to find the prime number list in the internet/wikipedia or to use the calculator from your computer.

thedukeofrock wrote: »

I actually only used the Prime numbers in puzzles twice out of 9 missions. I use several other types of puzzles in my missions as well. I was merely curious what the community knowledge was regarding primes. It is interesting the amount of different views I received in this on the General discussion forums.

EDIT: according to my memory back from highschool the criteria for a prime numer fits to "1". I checked the official part as well so it seems that it really starts with "2" (german wikipedia).

So maybe "they" changed it or it's a cultural/gouverment decission? But... It's math... 1 + 1 = 2 everywhere on this planet... I don't have any idea.

gulberat

On the subject of math puzzles, I was wondering--how many of you actually play math puzzles of all types, instead of using the skip option (if provided)?

I am working on one where the player will have to do mathematical operations in Base 2, 3, and 16, and I was wondering how many people would actually attempt to do the puzzles instead of delegating to the science officer.

nagorak

gulberat wrote: »

On the subject of math puzzles, I was wondering--how many of you actually play math puzzles of all types, instead of using the skip option (if provided)?

I am working on one where the player will have to do mathematical operations in Base 2, 3, and 16, and I was wondering how many people would actually attempt to do the puzzles instead of delegating to the science officer.

Based on the fact I don't even know what Base 2, Base 3 and Base 16 mean, I would just skip it. I expect probably 90-95% of people would as well. If you have a math puzzle, you need to keep it kind of simple. Not everyone is a huge math whiz, in fact many are not.

markhawkman

gulberat wrote: »

On the subject of math puzzles, I was wondering--how many of you actually play math puzzles of all types, instead of using the skip option (if provided)?

I am working on one where the player will have to do mathematical operations in Base 2, 3, and 16, and I was wondering how many people would actually attempt to do the puzzles instead of delegating to the science officer.

I've been thinking about doing one in base-20.

@Nagorak: it's the number of possible digits per character. We use decimal(base-10) most often. Hexadecimal(often used in computing) is base-16.