The longest series of this kind known at present consists of forty prime numbers. It begins with 41, 43, 47, 53 … and ends with … 1373, 1447,1523,1601, a truly extraordinary sequence.

Florida python hunterrs, Zach Hoffman, Jan Gianello and Justice Sargood caught a massive Burmese python in the Everglades on May 31, 2025.

Prime numbers, when expressed as that number of dots, can be arranged only in a single row or column, rather than a square or rectangle. David Eppstein/Wikimedia Commons.

For example, 11 is a prime number since 11 dots form only rectangular arrays of sizes 1 by 11 and 11 by 1. Conversely, 12 is not prime since you can use 12 dots to make an array of 3 by 4 dots, ...