Editing Prime number (section)

=== Arts and literature ===
Prime numbers have influenced many artists and writers. The French [[composer]] [[Olivier Messiaen]] used prime numbers to create ametrical music through "natural phenomena". In works such as ''[[La Nativité du Seigneur]]'' (1935) and ''[[Quatre études de rythme]]'' (1949–1950), he simultaneously employs motifs with lengths given by different prime numbers to create unpredictable rhythms: the primes 41, 43, 47 and 53 appear in the third étude, "Neumes rythmiques". According to Messiaen this way of composing was "inspired by the movements of nature, movements of free and unequal durations".<ref>{{cite book | editor1-last=Hill | editor1-first=Peter Jensen | title=The Messiaen companion | publisher=Amadeus Press | location=Portland, OR | isbn=978-0-931340-95-6 | year=1995 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7ag3ymWqvfgC&pg=PT225 | at = Ex. 13.2 ''Messe de la Pentecôte'' 1 'Entrée'}}</ref>

In his science fiction novel ''[[Contact (novel)|Contact]]'', scientist [[Carl Sagan]] suggested that prime factorization could be used as a means of establishing two-dimensional image planes in communications with aliens, an idea that he had first developed informally with American astronomer [[Frank Drake]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite book | last = Pomerance | first = Carl | author-link = Carl Pomerance | editor1-last = Hayes | editor1-first = David F. | editor2-last = Ross | editor2-first = Peter | contribution = Prime Numbers and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence | contribution-url = https://gauss.dartmouth.edu/~carlp/PDF/extraterrestrial.pdf | isbn = 978-0-88385-548-5 | location = Washington, DC | mr = 2085842 | pages = 3–6 | publisher = Mathematical Association of America | series = MAA Spectrum | title = Mathematical Adventures for Students and Amateurs | year = 2004}}</ref> In the novel ''[[The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time]]'' by [[Mark Haddon]], the narrator arranges the sections of the story by consecutive prime numbers as a way to convey the mental state of its main character, a mathematically gifted teen with [[Asperger syndrome]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2010/sep/16/curious-incident-dog-night-time|title=The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time|author=GrrlScientist|date=September 16, 2010|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=February 22, 2010|department=Science}}</ref> Prime numbers are used as a metaphor for loneliness and isolation in the [[Paolo Giordano]] novel ''[[The Solitude of Prime Numbers (novel)|The Solitude of Prime Numbers]]'', in which they are portrayed as "outsiders" among integers.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|title=Counting on Each Other|first=Liesl|last=Schillinger|date=April 9, 2010|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/books/review/Schillinger-t.html|department=Sunday Book Review}}</ref>