Natural selection. It helps to reduce the numbers of seasons when they all come out at the same time, and so reduces competition.
To think of cicadas as "deciding" something is anthropomorphizing; that is, using words that describe human attributions with things that don't really think as humans do. What probably happened is that those cicadas which happened to have a prime number cycle tended to avoid having predators match their periodic appearances and so increased relative to those that didn't, and as a consequence, got eaten. This is Natural Selection. Incidently, only Periodic cicadas have prime number cycles (17 or 13 years); there are also Annual cicadas which as their name implies, appear every year.
I dont now i need some one to tell me :(
789456
61 is the prime number before 67.
The prime number before 8 is 7.
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To think of cicadas as "deciding" something is anthropomorphizing; that is, using words that describe human attributions with things that don't really think as humans do. What probably happened is that those cicadas which happened to have a prime number cycle tended to avoid having predators match their periodic appearances and so increased relative to those that didn't, and as a consequence, got eaten. This is Natural Selection. Incidently, only Periodic cicadas have prime number cycles (17 or 13 years); there are also Annual cicadas which as their name implies, appear every year.
I dont now i need some one to tell me :(
789456
61 is the prime number before 67.
The prime number before 8 is 7.
The last prime number before 50 is 47.
The largest prime number before 1000 is 997.
prime number just before 97 = 89
Suppose the cicadas come out every C years and a predator comes out every P years. Then the life cycles of the predator and the cicadas will coincide every LCM(C, P) years. The predator will want it to happen as often as possible while the cicadas want that to happen as seldom as possible. If C is co-prime with P then the cycles coincide after CP years - which is best for the cicada.Suppose the cicadas come out every C years and a predator comes out every P years. Then the life cycles of the predator and the cicadas will coincide every LCM(C, P) years. The predator will want it to happen as often as possible while the cicadas want that to happen as seldom as possible. If C is co-prime with P then the cycles coincide after CP years - which is best for the cicada.Suppose the cicadas come out every C years and a predator comes out every P years. Then the life cycles of the predator and the cicadas will coincide every LCM(C, P) years. The predator will want it to happen as often as possible while the cicadas want that to happen as seldom as possible. If C is co-prime with P then the cycles coincide after CP years - which is best for the cicada.Suppose the cicadas come out every C years and a predator comes out every P years. Then the life cycles of the predator and the cicadas will coincide every LCM(C, P) years. The predator will want it to happen as often as possible while the cicadas want that to happen as seldom as possible. If C is co-prime with P then the cycles coincide after CP years - which is best for the cicada.
47 is the prime number that comes just before 53.
The prime number just before ninety-seven is 89.