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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Jan 05, 2003 by Mathematics |
| Overview: |
This site provides a comprehensive and easily accessible collection of material on prime numbers - research, records and resources, ranging in level from prime number trivia for a general audience to traditional proofs for an upper-division undergraduate and reference resources for a faculty member. It does not feature flashy images or animations but it has a lot of content written in a pleasant, readable style. The site includes useful utilities, options to interact with the author, and many resources.
Please also see the reviews of two sub-pages of this site, href="http://www.merlot.org/artifact/ArtifactDetail.po?oid=1010000000000076274">The
Prime Pages - Largest Known Primes and href="http://www.merlot.org/artifact/ArtifactDetail.po?oid=1010000000000076315">The
Prime Pages - Finding Primes and Proving Primality . |
| Learning Goals: |
To provide both a whimsical first experience on prime numbers for the uninitiated general user and a rich compendium of reference material and detail for the more serious user. |
| Target Student Population: |
This site has material suitable for catching the attention of a general user new to the concept of prime numbers. It also has depth suitable for the enthusiastic, amateur prime number collector or background proofs for the undergraduate math major. The short list of open problems and conjectures might interest faculty members. |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
No prerequisite knowledge is necessary for the new user to appreciate the history and the ongoing search for the largest prime number. Basic abstract algebra is necessary to understand the proofs. |
| Type of Material: |
Reference and descriptive material with many cross-links and resources including references to the University of Tennessee library catalog database. |
| Recommended Uses: |
Any prime-related activity one might wish to undertake could benefit from the inclusion of information from this site. |
| Technical Requirements: |
Basic browser is all that is required to view the primarily textual material. Prime number search software is available for download and has specific machine requirements. |
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| Strengths: |
The main page is updated weekly and contains low-key but attractive material in a pleasant writing style. The five main content areas are "Largest Known Primes", "Prime Links", "List of Primes", "Finding Primes and Proving Primality" and "Largest Known Prime - History". There is a comprehensive set of utilities including a primality test applet, a simple, effective search engine, FAQ, comment area, list of awards, guestbook, and references. A "more resources" section includes a short list of open problems/conjectures, the Riemann Hypothesis, Prime Curios - a whimsical trivia collection for the general audience, and a glossary. A comprehensive privacy statement is included. There are several links with opportunities to download prime number software and participate in searches. |
| Concerns: |
Because this site is suitable for many different levels of user, some material is beyond the general user. |
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
This site is potentially more effective than some larger, less focussed sites. It features a pleasant, conversational writing style and allows entry as a general user simply interested in learning about the concept of prime numbers, or as a more advanced user interested in the mathematical proofs behind the examples. It also caters to those specifically interested in joining a search for the next largest prime number.
There are a large number of cross links and references. In this case, unlike some sites whose links lead immediately to an online retailer, this site has an experimental interface with the University of Tenessee BibTEX database that features the standard library author/keyword search ability. This feature does not provide reference content. |
| Concerns: |
None |
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
The search engine is effective: a search, for example, for "Fermat + Wiles" produced 25 summaries from this site. The search engine also allows wider web searches and includes a help feature. The FAQ section has a nice format featuring questions with links to answers written in a friendly,
conversational style. Several areas allow for user interaction, including the ability to send comments to the author and a guest-book that permits posting and reading of user comments. An e-mail list allows the user to join Yahoo discussion groups |
| Concerns: |
None |
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| Other Issues and Comments: |
This site has received 23 awards for math, education and web sites. |
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