Infinitude of Primes
A Topological Proof without Topology
Using topology to prove the infinitude of primes was a startling example of interaction between such distinct mathematical fields is number theory and topology. The example was served in 1955 by the Israeli mathematician Harry Fürstenberg. More than 50 years later, Idris D. Mercer has recast the proof into more algebraic terms, eschewing the language of topology.
The proof in this form loses some of the charm that made Fürstenberg's proof a good candidate for The Book envisaged by P. Erdös, but it also shows how naturally topological ideas permeate other branches of mathematics.
Following Fürstenberg we consider the sets of two-sided arithmetic progressions (AP, for short).
Na, b = { a + nb: n ∈Z } |
and abbreviate
NM(m) = N1, m ∪ N2, m ∪ ... ∪ Nm-1, m, |
so that NM(m) denotes the set of numbers not divisible by m.
Lemma 1
A finite intersection of APs is either empty or infinite.
Proof
Given a finite set of APs, Nak, bk,
(More accurately we may claim that x ∈ Nx, b1b2 ... bs. In topological terms this shows that the intersection of a finite number of open neighborhoods of x is an open neighborhood.)
Lemma 2
If S is any collection of sets, then a finite intersection of finite unions of members of S is also a finite union of finite intersections of members of S.
Proof
This is a consequence of de Morgan's Formulas.
Theorem
There are infinitely many primes.
Proof
If p1, ..., pt are all the primes there are then
NM = NM(p1) ∩ ... ∩ NM(pt) = {-1, 1}; |
for any integer, except for -1 and 1, is the product of a number of primes. NM is a finite intersection of finite unions of APs. Hence, by Lemma 2, it is also a finite union of finite intersections of APs. By Lemma 1, each of this intersections is either empty or infinite and the same holds for their finite unions. This contradicts the fact that NM contains only 2 elements -1 and 1.
Reference
- M. Aigner, G. Ziegler, Proofs from THE BOOK, Springer, 2000
- I. D. Mercer, On Furstenberg's Proof of the Infinitude of Primes, Amer. Math. Monthly 116, n 4 (April 2009), 355
- Infinitude of Primes
- Infinitude of Primes - A Topological Proof
- Infinitude of Primes - A Topological Proof without Topology
- Infinitude of Primes Via *-Sets
- Infinitude of Primes Via Coprime Pairs
- Infinitude of Primes Via Fermat Numbers
- Infinitude of Primes Via Harmonic Series
- Infinitude of Primes Via Lower Bounds
- Infinitude of Primes - via Fibonacci Numbers
- New Proof of Euclid's Theorem
- Infinitude Of Primes From Legendre's Formula
- Infinitude of Primes - via Bertrand's Postulate
- Infinitude of Primes - An Impossible Injection
- Infinitude of Primes - from Infinitude of Mutual Primes
- Infinitude of Primes Via Euler's Product Formula
- Infinitude of Primes Via Euler's Product Formula for Pi
- Infinitude of Primes Via Powers of 2
- Infinitude of Primes As a Quickie
- A One-Line Proof of the Infinitude of Primes
- Infinitude of Primes - A. Thue's Proof
- Why The Number of Primes Could Not Be Finite?
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