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Prime number
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=== Biology === The evolutionary strategy used by [[cicada]]s of the genus ''[[Magicicada]]'' makes use of prime numbers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goles |first1=E. |last2=Schulz |first2=O. |first3=M. |last3=Markus |year=2001 |title=Prime number selection of cycles in a predator-prey model |journal=[[Complexity (journal)|Complexity]] |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=33–38 |doi=10.1002/cplx.1040 |bibcode=2001Cmplx...6d..33G }}</ref> These insects spend most of their lives as [[larva|grubs]] underground. They only pupate and then emerge from their burrows after 7, 13 or 17 years, at which point they fly about, breed, and then die after a few weeks at most. Biologists theorize that these prime-numbered breeding cycle lengths have evolved in order to prevent predators from synchronizing with these cycles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campos |first1=Paulo R. A. |last2=de Oliveira |first2=Viviane M. |last3=Giro |first3=Ronaldo |last4=Galvão |first4=Douglas S. |year=2004 |title=Emergence of prime numbers as the result of evolutionary strategy |journal=[[Physical Review Letters]] |volume=93 |issue=9 |page=098107 |arxiv=q-bio/0406017 |bibcode=2004PhRvL..93i8107C |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.098107 |pmid=15447148 |s2cid=88332}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Economist]]| url=http://economist.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2647052 |title=Invasion of the Brood |date=May 6, 2004|access-date=2006-11-26 }}</ref> In contrast, the multi-year periods between flowering in [[bamboo]] plants are hypothesized to be [[smooth number]]s, having only small prime numbers in their factorizations.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Zimmer|first1=Carl|author-link=Carl Zimmer|date=May 15, 2015|title=Bamboo Mathematicians|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bamboo-mathematicians|department=Phenomena: The Loom|magazine=[[National Geographic]]|access-date=February 22, 2018}}</ref>
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