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Talk:Semiprime: Difference between revisions
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:It doesn't matter ''when taken in this context''. Zero is never taken as prime.
:: That was never my point. Unity also isn't a prime. But an '''isPrime''' function should be able to test any integer and return a correct result (as to being a prime or not) without giving an error or causing a loop. Same thing with an ''isSemiprime'' function. It should be able to return a correct result. Understanding that extremely large numbers would be problematic, of course. -- [[User:Gerard Schildberger|Gerard Schildberger]] ([[User talk:Gerard Schildberger|talk]]) 08:00, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
:Are you saying that the task description is confusing as it stands? --[[User:Paddy3118|Paddy3118]] ([[User talk:Paddy3118|talk]]) 07:17, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
:: Well, maybe not confusing, but it could be clarified. The use of any phrase (or word) that is under contention (disagreement) should never be used in a definition. If not, then we could say that semiprimes are the product of exactly two (possibly equal) primes. The use of a clarifying adjective should be definitive, and not be argumentative (since there is not an agreed-on definition). I like Mathworld's definition better: a semiprime, also called a 2-almost prime, biprime, or ''p q''-number, is a composite number that is the product of two (possible equal) primes. This also has the advantage of introducing other (alias) names for people searching for alternate names. A note about the square of a prime being, by definition, is a semiprime would be a nice addition. -- [[User:Gerard Schildberger|Gerard Schildberger]] ([[User talk:Gerard Schildberger|talk]]) 08:00, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
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