Numbers play an important role on the quantitative section of the GMAT, for obvious reasons, and arguably the most important numbers tested are prime numbers.

As a reminder, a prime number is any number whose only two factors are 1 and itself. The first ten prime numbers, which you should know for the GMAT, are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, and 29.

GMAT primes show up in a number of different ways in number theory questions, including determining divisibility, finding Least Common Multiples (LCM) and Greatest Common Factors (GCF), isolating attributes of numbers on Data Sufficiency questions, and sometimes overtly figuring out if/how prime numbers lead to a solution on certain problem solving questions.

We teach all of this and more in our newly-released GMAT Number Properties Course, but there’s something cool about the prime number 2 that I want to share with you here. I call it the “magic” of the Number 2, and I explain what that means with an illustrative example in this video.

Check it out:

As referenced in the video, you can get the rest of this lesson on GMAT primes plus in-depth instruction on all of the other GMAT number properties topics (remainders, factors & divisibility, units digits, etc.) in our comprehensive GMAT Number Properties Course by clicking HERE.

I trust this lesson on prime numbers will put you in a better position to dominate the GMAT. But if you have any other questions, you can post them below or contact us directly. We’re here to help!