looney_tunes Moderator 20 year member
3335 replies
Answer has 4 votes.
Currently voted the best answer.
And by definition, 5 is the ONLY prime number ending in 5, as all larger numbers ending in 5 are multiples of 5.
The only other single-digit prime number which is also the only prime number ending in that digit is 2. Both 3 and 7 can be the final digit of a larger prime number - 13 and 17 are examples.
I'm no math surgeon, but any natural number ending with 5 is always a multiple of 5. You can't state this with any other non-zero number. For example, 3 is not a multiple of all numbers ending with 3: 13, 23, 43, etc.
This is because 5 also represents half the digits of our 10-digit numbering system. Therefore, 5 has an imaginary value of a half. Not as 1-over-2 but as increments of half of our numbering system of 10.
For example, 15 is the product of 3 times half the digits of our numbering system (5), and 35 is 7 times half the digits. Therefore, any number ending with 5 can't be prime because it's also the product of an odd number multiplied with half the digits in our numbering system (5). I now feel dumber.
Response last updated by SpyderFuzz on Jan 26 2024.
Jan 26 2024, 6:10 PM
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