Java Examples

Java Program to Check Prime Number



A Prime number is a natural number greater than 1 and divisible by 1 and itself only, for example: 2, 3, 5, 7, etc.

Method 1: Using conditional statements

In the example below, the number called MyNum is checked for prime number by dividing it with all natural numbers starting from 2 to N - 1.

public class MyClass {
 public static void main(String[] args) {
    int MyNum = 17;
    int n = 0;

    for(int i = 2; i < MyNum; i++) {
      if(MyNum % i == 0){
        n++;
        break;
      }
    }

    if (n == 0){
      System.out.println(MyNum + " is a prime number.");
    } else {
      System.out.println(MyNum + " is not a prime number.");
    }
  }
}

The above code will give the following output:

17 is a prime number.

Method 2: Using Method

In the example below, a function called primenumber() is created which takes a number as argument and checks it for prime number by dividing it with all natural numbers starting from 2 to N/2.

public class MyClass {
 static void primenumber(int MyNum) {
    int n = 0;

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

    if (n == 0){
      System.out.println(MyNum + " is a prime number.");
    } else {
      System.out.println(MyNum + " is not a prime number.");
    }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    primenumber(21);
  }
}

The above code will give the following output:

21 is not a prime number.

Method 3: Optimized Code

  • Instead of checking the divisibility of given number from 2 to N/2, it is checked till square root of N. For a factor larger than square root of N, there must the a smaller factor which is already checked in the range of 2 to square root of N.
  • Except from 2 and 3, every prime number can be represented into 6k ± 1.
public class MyClass {
 static void primenumber(int MyNum) {
    int n = 0;
    
    if (MyNum == 2 || MyNum == 3){
      System.out.println(MyNum + " is a prime number.");
    } 
    else if (MyNum % 6 == 1 || MyNum % 6 == 5) {
      for(int i = 2; i*i <= MyNum; i++) {
        if(MyNum % i == 0){
          n++;
          break;
        }
      }

      if (n == 0){
        System.out.println(MyNum + " is a prime number.");
      } else {
        System.out.println(MyNum + " is not a prime number.");
      }
    } else {
      System.out.println(MyNum + " is not a prime number.");
    }
  }
 public static void main(String[] args) {
    primenumber(21);
  }
}

The above code will give the following output:

21 is not a prime number.