I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about math…or even most of what there is to know, to be honest.

That said, even I know that one of the true things that never changes is that you can’t predict prime numbers.

But, what if you could?

If you need a quick refresher, prime numbers are numbers that can only be divided by themselves and one.

Researchers are City University of Hong Kong and North Carolina State University are coming together to say they’ve devised a way to predict this historically elusive digits.

“Our team has devised a way to predict accurately and swiftly when prime numbers will appear.”

They reveal a system called the “Periodic Table of Primes,” or PTP.

“The PTP provides a platform to make the study of primes clearer and easier.”

Here’s where we note that the study has not yet undergone peer review.

“Three major contributions made in the article are the Formula of Primes, the Periodic Table of Primes, and the Counting Functions for Primes and Twin Primes. These findings provide answers to questions of interest to the academic community, such as finding a future prime, factoring an integer, illustrating the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, predicting the total number of primes and twin primes or estimating the maximum prime gap within an interval, among others.”

These are questions people have been asking since basically forever, and they’re related to the most famous unsolved math problems of all time.

Stay with us, though, because this is an important breakthrough even if you’re not a huge math nerd.

Prime numbers underpin just about everything in the modern world, says Ittay Weiss, a University of Portsmouth teaching fellow.

“One of the most widely used applications of prime numbers in computing is the RSA encryption system. The system allows for the secure transmission of information – such as credit card numbers – online.”

And who among us wants to go back to having to see people in person to hand over our card?

“Large prime numbers are used prominently in other cryptosystems too, and for most applications, the unpredictability of prime numbers is an intrinsic part of their usefulness.”

Basically, the fact that they’re unpredictable makes the systems more secure.

We will all have to wait and see what happens when their peers get in to review the research and down to the nitty gritty.

It certainly seems like it could be quite the big deal.

If you enjoyed that story, check out what happened when a guy gave ChatGPT $100 to make as money as possible, and it turned out exactly how you would expect.