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jmc

prealgebra intermediate

Problem

How many numbers in the set can be written as the difference of two primes?
Solution
Notice that when we subtract two integers, the difference can only be odd if one integer is even and one integer is odd (even - even = even and odd - odd = even). If one integer is even, then that integer is divisible by 2 and thus not prime. The only exception is 2, the only even prime number. So one of the primes must be 2. If we add 2 to each number in the set to find the other prime, we end up with . All of the numbers in the set are divisible by 5, which means the only prime number in the set is 5. So the only number in the set that can be written as the difference of two primes is . The answer is number.
Final answer
1