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1 is neither a composite nor a Prime number. A prime number is one with exactly two positive divisors, itself and one. One has only one positive divisor. It cannot be written as a product of two factors neither of which is itself, so one is also not composite.

A prime number is defined as being a natural number that is evenly divisible by exactly two distinct natural numbers. In the case of the number one, 1 is the only natural number that it can be evenly divided by. Thus, 1 has only one distinct divisor, not the required two necessary to make it a prime number. A numbers having this property is called a "unit".

Even though it isn't a prime number, one has certain properties that make it even more special. For example, it's the building block for the other numbers:

2 = 1 + 1,

3 = 2 + 1,

4 = 3 + 1.

Also, it's what's called the identity element under multiplication; which means that when you multiply any number by one, you get that same number back. Specifically, 1 • X = X • 1 = X , where X is any number.
It's neither.

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7y ago
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12y ago

One is neither a prime nor a composite number.

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13y ago

Neither. One is one and all alone and evermore shall be so...

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14y ago

It is neither a prime number nor a composite number.

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11y ago

A prime number has only 2 factors which are 1 and itself. Composite numbers are everything else except 1 and 0. 1 and 0 are neither prime, nor composite. -1 is neither. It must be positive.

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7y ago

neither

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Q: Is 1 composite or prime
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