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The prime counting function is the function giving the number of primes less than or equal to a given number (Shanks 1993, p. 15). For example, there are no primes , so . There is a single prime (2) , so . There are two primes (2 and 3) , so . And so on.

The notation for the prime counting function is slightly unfortunate because it has nothing whatsoever to do with the constant . This notation was introduced by number theorist Edmund Landau in 1909 and has now become standard. In the words of Derbyshire (2004, p. 38), "I am sorry about this; it's not my fault. You'll just have to put up with it."

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12y ago

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