...were asked to prove all odd numbers greater than 1 are prime
Several professionals were asked the following problem: Prove that all odd integers greater than 1 are prime. Here were the responses.
- A trained mathematician:
"3 is a prime... 5 is a prime... 7 is a prime... 9 is not a prime. This is a counterexample, so the claim is false." - A poorly trained mathematician:
"3 is prime... 5 is prime... and by induction, we have that all the other odd integers are prime." - A physicist:
"3 is a prime... 5 is a prime... 7 is a prime... 9 is an experimental error... 11 is a prime..." - An engineer:
"3 is a prime... 5 is a prime... 7 is a prime... 9 is a prime... 11 is a prime..." - A computer scientist:
"3 is a prime... 5 is a prime... 7's a prime... Segmentation fault!?" - A statistician:
"We can prove that all odd numbers are prime. First we randomly select three odd numbers, say 23, 29, and 47..." [1]