On Mon, 1 Feb 1999 20:52:02 EST [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>In a message dated 2/1/99 6:38:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>writes:
>
>> Hi.
>> Just to continue the delightfully irrelevant string of
>almost-off-topic
>> posts, I note that -3i (where i is the square root of -1) has the
>same
>> absolute value as 3, so it IS as small a factor, by some
>definition.
>
>I have seen definitions of factoring that define 1, -1, i, -i as
>"units", and
>prove that every integer can be factored uniquely into the product of
>positive
>prime integers and one "unit". So yes, -3i is a factor, but it should
>be
>considered "composite."
A prime is defined as a number divisible only by itself and 1
According to this then, than can a prime be difined as a number divisible
only by itself and one "unit"?
So why is -3i composite?
It is only divisible by 3 and -i , or by a product of one (1) + prime
int., and one (1) unit.
J. Zylstra
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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