Fundamental theorem of arithmetic1: every whole number can be split into a product of prime numbers in a unique way.
Examples:
What is prime factorization of one? An empty sequence, because it is the multiplicative identity and an empty product is the identity.
Now given this theorem, let’s think of 6 from a different POV:
Then dividing by a prime p is equivalent to dropping a term of value p from the sequence on the right hand side.
Now let’s take a bold step and declare 0 has a factorization. Name it
But
This dropping property holds for any prime
So
- Has to be infinite length, else dropping a term from it would strictly shorten it.
- Contains every prime infinitely many times since 0 can be divided arbitrarily many times without changing.
So the prime factorization of 0 is all the prime numbers, repeated a infinite number of times. Unlike every other standard natural number, not a finite sequence.
So if you take every prime and multiply them all by each other infinitely many times, you get zero. Trippy.