what is the actual real-world application of prime numbers? Or is it just a math concept that’s neat to see and figure out but doesn’t have any actual use case?

Question

I read that they have some uses within online encryption, but to be honest I never really thought about why we learned them in school until this morning.

In: 20

Answer 1

Cybersecurity.

One way that computers stay safe is by requiring a number to access them. If another device says the number, the computer grants access. Like a password.

If you let another computer try enough times, it will multiply numbers until it achieves the computer code through complex math that doesn’t matter for this. Basically, if a number is a product of numbers, it can be cracked pretty easily.

Not so for prime numbers, since it’s not the product of numbers, you need to guess it point blank. This takes a longer time, and gives operators more time to stop the unauthorized access.