Can a whole number ending in 8 be prime?
No, any whole number ending in 8 will never be prime. A number ending in 8 will always be divisible by 2. The rule for 2 is:
If any number ends in any even number (0, 2, 4, 6, or 8) it will always be divisible by 2 and therefore it is not prime.
There are other rules such as this one that really help when you want to find out whether or not a whole number is prime or not. I've used them ever since I learned them. Hope this helps!
See what you think.
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.prime.num.html
No, a whole number ending in 8 cannot be prime, except for the number 8 itself. All other whole numbers ending in 8 are divisible by 2 and therefore, not prime. By definition, a prime number is a whole number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. Since numbers ending in 8 are always divisible by 2, they have at least two positive divisors.
To determine if a whole number ending in 8 can be prime, we have to understand the properties of prime numbers. A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself.
In this case, let's consider a whole number ending in 8 like 18, 28, 38, and so on. By observing these numbers, we notice that they are all divisible by 2, since they end in an even digit. Therefore, none of these numbers can be prime.
To confirm this, we can apply the divisibility rule for 2, which states that any number ending in an even digit (0, 2, 4, 6, or 8) is divisible by 2. Consequently, any whole number ending in 8 will always be divisible by 2, making it non-prime.