a prime number or a prime is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itselfa natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite numberence 6 is not prime the image at the right illustrates that 12 is not prime 12 3 4 no even number greater than 2 is prime because by definition any such number n has at least three distinct divisors namely 1 2 and n this implies that n is not prime