Prime Number Theorem

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

prime number theorem

   <mathematics> The number of {prime numbers} less than x is
   about x/log(x).  Here "is about" means that the ratio of the
   two things tends to 1 as x tends to infinity.  This was first
   conjectured by {Gauss} in the early 19th century, and was
   proved (independently) by Hadamard and de la Vall'ee Poussin
   in 1896.  Their proofs relied on {complex analysis}, but Erdös
   and Selberg later found an "elementary" proof.

   (1995-04-10)