Is five a prime number?

Five is a prime number. A prime number is a number which only has two factors. Those two factors are one and the number itself.

Examples of prime numbers include 17, 19, 31 and 37. In math, prime numbers are often compared to composite numbers. Composite numbers have factors more than one and itself. For instance, 22, 48, 60 and 100 are composite numbers.

The numbers zero and one are not considered to be either prime or composite. Zero has many factors that can lead to it. The number one’s only factor is itself, which excludes it from being a prime or composite number.