A prime number is a number that can only be divided by itself and one (1). Ruby makes it convenient to access prime numbers within any range with the Prime class. This class represents a set of all prime numbers. Ruby also offers several methods for accessing the values herein. To use the prime class, ‘require’ it in your document as follows:
require ‘prime’
To return an array of all prime numbers within a certain range, the Prime class can be used with enumerable methods. Simply pass in a block as follows:
prime = Prime.take_while { |p| p < 30 }
print prime
# [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29]
This can also be done by utilising the prime Eratosthenes generator. This uses the Eratosthenes method under the hood to generate prime numbers as needed:
num = 50
prime_nums = Prime::EratosthenesGenerator.new.take_while
{ |prime| prime <= num }
print prime_nums
# [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47]
The “Prime.prime?” method can be used to determine whether any number passed in is prime or not.
Prime.prime?(60)
# returns false
Prime.prime?(5)
# returns true
These simple, yet powerful methods can be used along with other enumerable Ruby methods to solve other problems. Determining the number of prime numbers that exist within a specified range of numbers is one such possibility.
require "prime"
def number_of_primes(array)
prime_arr = Prime.take_while { |p| p < 500 }
num = array.count do |x|
prime_arr.include?(x)
end
num
end
puts number_of_primes([121, 17, 21, 29, 11, 341, 407, 19, 119, 352])
# 4
Lastly, the Prime module can be used to determine the number that’s a factor of the most numbers in a given list. To achieve this, the following steps can be taken:
1) Retrieve an array of prime numbers before the highest number in the set:
prime_arr = Prime.take_while { |x| x < 10_000 }
2) Determine the factors of each number in the list, storing those values in a holder.
for i in 0...array.length
nums << (1...array[i]).select { |x| array[i] % x == 0 }
end
3) Use for loops to determine which factors are prime numbers, using the prime array previously saved.
for i in 0...nums.length
for j in 0...nums.length
if prime_arr.include?(nums[i][j])
result << nums[i][j]
end
end
end
4) Count and return the most value that occurs most frequently.
mode = result.uniq.max_by{ |i| result.count(i) }
mode
Putting all this together gives us:
require 'prime'
def prime_prime(array)
nums = []
result = []
prime_arr = Prime.take_while { |x| x < 10_000 }
for i in 0...array.length
nums << (1...array[i]).select { |x| array[i] % x == 0 }
end
for i in 0...nums.length
for j in 0...nums.length
if prime_arr.include?(nums[i][j])
result << nums[i][j]
end
end
end
mode = result.uniq.max_by{ |i| result.count(i) }
mode
end
puts prime_prime([2, 3, 5, 6, 9])
# => 3
puts prime_prime([121, 17, 21, 29, 11, 341, 407, 19, 119, 352])
# => 11
So as you can see, the Prime module as shown can be utilised in a handful of nifty ways!