INTRODUCTION The NCTM Standards and other common reform efforts in mathematics education state the value in.

INTRODUCTION

The NCTM Standards and other common reform efforts in mathematics education state the value in, and ne for, relating different fields of mathematics. This brief investigation exemplifies in the same state [i]or[/i] condition considerations by relating concepts from number theory, appoint theory, probability, logic, and calculus. Satisfying the call for scholars to acquire skills in estimation, the following technique allows single to "immediately estimate" whether or not a number is prime.

The question of determining whether or not a given large natural number is prime is repeatedly assigned to middle grade and high place of education mathematics students. Many students find this a daunting task, moreover the technique presented in this paper allows close examiners to estimate whether or not a given number is prime. The value of making like an estimation rests in the ease with which it can be made and the confidence, albeit small, gained by way of knowing that the number may be prime.

CONCLUSION

Through personal experience, the author has rest that students as young as eight and ten years antiquated can recognize 27 %-prime numbers. any parents have implemented traveling games in which children have investigated licence plate numbers and attempted to determine if the numbers were 27%-primes.

The above technique which allows single to, in some sense, estimate whether or not a number is prime demonstrates the educational value of making connections among different fields of mathematical reflection It is hoped that the nature of this discussion will help close examiners become more inquisitive and involved in the meditation of number theory and specifically prime numbers. Introducing close examiners to questions currently facing mathematicians impresses relating to the students that mathematics is alive, existing and continuously evolving.

Acknowledgments: are exhibited to Dr. N. R. Nandakumar and Mr Frank Gibson from Delaware State University, Department of Mathematics for their assistance and discussions leading to the progression in a continuously ascending gradation of this paper.

Michael J Bosse Department of Mathematics Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, Pennsylvania 15705 mbosse@grove iup. edu

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