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Surf City Semiprimes (Posted on 2011-09-27) Difficulty: 2 of 5

Let n be some arbitrarily huge number; call each prime between 1 and n a 'GIRL'; call each even semiprime between 1 and n a 'BOY'.

Prove that there are two GIRLs for every BOY.

(An even semiprime is a composite number one of whose two prime factors is 2.)

  Submitted by broll    
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Solution: (Hide)
There are twice as many primes as even semiprimes:

Select some large number, n. Between 0 and n there are p primes. Of these p primes,
(1) all those greater than n/2 will have no even semiprime counterpart.
(2) all those less than or equal to n/2 will have exactly one even semiprime counterpart.

By the prime number counting theorem, the density of primes up to n is Pi(n) ~ n/ln(n)
Accordingly the density of primes up to n/2 is Pi(n/2) ~ (n/2)/ln(n/2))

Then the ratio of primes to even semiprimes is a=Pi(n/2)/ Pi(n)~((n/2)/ln(n/2)))/(n/ln(n)), so a = (log(n))/(2 log(n/2)).

In the limit:Limit[Log[xn]/(2 Log[n/2]), {n -> -Infinity, n -> Infinity}]={1/2, 1/2}

So there are two GIRLs for every BOY.

I have posted some statistics (computed from entries in Sloane) in the comments section.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
Hints/TipsNo Subjectbroll2011-09-27 23:14:21
SolutionproofCharlie2011-09-27 16:55:12
I don't think it's true. Maybe I do.Jer2011-09-27 11:13:57
Some ThoughtsMenage a troisSteve Herman2011-09-27 10:38:32
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