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Prime Numbers in Nature

 Prime numbers are one of the easiest concepts to understand and learn in Maths. But some of the complex problems in Maths belong to this branch. Never would have imagined an application of prime numbers in nature. Thanks to the book 'Weird Maths: At The Edge of Infinity and Beyond' which introduced me to this along with other weird applications of Maths.

There's a particular species type of cicadas found in the US called the Magicicada or the 'periodical cicadas' who stay in their larva for 13 or 17 years. Imagine staying inside for over a decade with no connection to the outside world and coming out in the year 2021. People wearing masks walking all around you, smartphones, oh, the shock!🤯








It is the primality of these numbers which interest the mathematicians. The reasons are quite interesting. As the lifecycle of the prey changes, the population cycle (pattern in the population for a period of time) of their predators also vary due to the change in the availability of their food. So, if the Magicicada's lifecycle was a composite number say, 16 years, then predators whose population cycles are factors of 16 which are 1,2,4,8 and 16 will have a chance to feast on these cicadas as soon as they come out of their larva, even before they have a chance to mate and produce the next generation. This can lead to their extinction. But if it is a prime number, like 13 then the cicadas only need to worry about predators whose population cycles sync with theirs every 13 years, which is much low in number. So, prime numbers are actually protecting these species from the verge of extinction. 

The surprises math and nature give us at every corner is countless and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

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