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Because the property of being a prime or composite is defined only for numbers which are two or larger. If 1 were considered a prime then the fundamental theorem of arithmetic - the unique prime factorisation theorem - would fail.

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9y ago

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Prime numbers have two factors. Composite numbers have more than two. 1 doesn't have enough factors to qualify for either.

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9y ago
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Q: Why 1 neither prime or composite number?
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