Symmetry of the Composite Numbers
- 1 Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- 2 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
- 3 Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study and Department of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- 4 Department of Systems Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Abstract
Traditionally, primes have been viewed as weeds appearing irregularly among the natural numbers, making their locations difficult to predict. We believe composite numbers, the complement of primes, exhibit symmetric patterns in their distribution. This study presents a new perspective: after systematically eliminating integers divisible by small primes such as 2, 3, 5, and 7, the remaining integers can be uniquely represented through a framework of roots and kins. Furthermore, all remaining composite numbers exhibit cyclic and mirror effects, enabling the construction of an extended Cyclic Table of Composites. Using this table, we derive a formula that identifies the locations of primes within any interval. Additional formulas for fast factorization and for locating twin primes, mirror primes, and prime tuples are also obtained. These results suggest that although primes themselves appear structureless, the composites surrounding them obey rich internal symmetries that allow efficient detection of “where primes hide”.
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