41 is a prime number. A prime number is defined as a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. In the case of 41, the only numbers that divide it evenly are 1 and 41. This means that there are no other factors or divisors, which is the defining characteristic of prime numbers.
To further understand why 41 is prime, we can look at its factors. When we check for divisibility by all prime numbers less than the square root of 41 (which is approximately 6.4), we only consider the prime numbers 2, 3, and 5. None of these divide 41 evenly:
- 41 is not even, so it’s not divisible by 2.
- When dividing 41 by 3, the result is not an integer (13.67).
- 41 divided by 5 also does not yield an integer (8.2).
Since 41 is not divisible by any of these primes, we can conclude that it is indeed a prime number.