The online computer game “Is this prime?” tests a player’s knowledge of prime numbers—and just surpassed 2,999,999 attempts. Give it a whirl.

Prime numbers are a central topic of study in math. Despite being an object of fascination for millennia, there are still a lot of unsolved problems involving primes. Prime numbers are one of the ...

Prime numbers are absolutely essential to modern computer security -- and, possibly, to communicating with alien life forms. Here's how they work.

The world's largest prime number clocks in at nearly 13 million digits. It's a type of number called a Mersenne, and mathematicians are using the Internet to outsource the computing power to find ...

Prime numbers are the biggest and oldest data set in mathematics. Why have they captivated mathematicians for millennia?

To make progress on one of number theory’s most elementary questions, two mathematicians turned to an unlikely source.