Prime Number Program in C

Prime number program in C | Number having only two factors ( 1 and itself ) called Prime number. Example:- 5, 7, 11, 13…

The problem to write C program to find the prime number is based on to find factors of a number.

Note:- We don’t have negative prime numbers. A positive integer is prime if it has only two divisors among the positive integers. Zero is neither positive nor negative, hence it is not a prime number. 1 is not considered prime numbers. 2 is the only even prime number.

All negative numbers:- not prime number
0:- not a prime number
1:- not a prime number

We know that prime number having only two factors, so if the number is divisible by any number between 2 to half of the number then the number is not a prime number.

A number will never divisible by the greater than half of the number. For example, half of the number 10 is 5 so, the 10 is never divisible by greater than 5 (except itself). Hence we should check only for the numbers 2 to half of the number.

It will reduce the number of iteration of the loops, and the performance of the program will increase.

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
  int number,count=0 ;

  printf("Enter number: ");
  scanf("%d",&number);

  for(int i=2; i<=number/2; i++)
  {
    if(number%i==0)
    {
      count=1;
      break;
    }
  }

  if(count == 1 || number == 1)
      printf("%d is not a prime number\n",number);
  else
      printf("%d is a prime number\n",number);

  return 0;
}

Output:-

Enter number: 1
1 is not a prime number

Enter number: 2
2 is a prime number

Enter number: 4
4 is not a prime number

In the above prime number program in C, we had taken a temporary variable count and initialize it with 0. Now initialize iteration variable i with 2 and iterate until number/2 using update expression i++. If the number is divisible at the time of iteration then the value of the variable i updated with 1 and due to control statement break, the control of the program came out of the loop.

Now, if the count or number is 1 then the number is not a prime number else number is a prime number.

Prime number program in C using while loop

While loop in C is a pre-test loop where the expression is evaluated then only statements are executed. It uses a test expression to control the loop. Before every iteration of the loop, the test expression is evaluated.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
   int number, count=0, i=2;

   printf("Enter a positive interger: ");
   scanf("%d", &number);

   if(number == 1) count = 1;
   else
   {
     while(i <= number/2)
     {
       if(number%i == 0)
       {
         count=1;
         break;
       }
       i++;
     }
   }

   count == 1 ? printf("Not Prime") : printf("Prime");

   return 0;
 }

In the above prime number program in C, we check the number is 1 or not. If the number is 1 the update the count variable with 1 else iterate the while loop.

At the time of iteration if the number is divisible by the variable i then the value of the count variable will updated and due to the control statement break the control of the program came out of the loop.

Now, using a ternary operator check the value of the count variable. If the value of the count variable is 1 then it is not a prime number else it is a prime number.

Find Prime Number in a Given Range

The below prime number program in C displays all prime numbers in a given range.

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
  int m, n, i, j, count;

  // The value of m and n should be +ve and m<n
  printf("Enter m and n Values(m<n): ");
  scanf("%d %d",&m,&n);

  // 1 is not a prime number, so check from 2
  if(m == 1) m++;

  printf("Prime numbers from %d to %d are: \n", m, n);

  for(i=m;i<=n;i++)
  {
      count=0;
      for(j=2;j<=i/2;j++)
      {
     if(i%j==0)
     {
       count=1;
       break;
     }
      }

      if(count==0)
     printf("%d\t", i);
  }

  return 0;
}

Output:-

Enter m and n Values(m<n): 1 50
Prime numbers from 2 to 50 are:
2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 41 43 47

Enter m and n Values(m<n): 50 100
Prime numbers from 50 to 100 are:
53 59 61 67 71 73 79 83 89 97

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