3 ms·
Furthermore, the ordered sequence of primes that multiply to any given positive integer is unique. If 1 were considered prime, that wouldn't hold, as you could
by mintplant 8y ago
Furthermore, the ordered sequence of primes that multiply to any given positive integer is unique. If 1 were considered prime, that wouldn't hold, as you could keep adding as many 1s as you like to the start of the sequence: (1,3,3,5), (1,1,3,3,5), etc. Thus 1 encodes no useful information here.