ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Archimedes' quadruplets

Archimedes' quadruplets are sets of four prime numbers that satisfy a specific mathematical relationship. To understand this relationship, imagine a number line that starts at 0 and goes on infinitely in both directions. The quadruplets are sets of four numbers that have a specific distance between them on this number line.

For example, one of the quadruplets is (5, 11, 17, 23). If you look at these numbers on a number line, you'll see that the distance between 5 and 11 is 6, the distance between 11 and 17 is also 6, and so on. This means that they have a "common difference" of 6.

Archimedes was a Greek mathematician who lived a very long time ago. He was interested in finding patterns and relationships between numbers. Once he discovered these quadruplets, he was very excited because they had a unique mathematical property.

It's important to note that there are only a finite number of such quadruplets. In fact, only four have been identified so far! Mathematicians are always looking for more, but it's possible that only these four exist.

Overall, Archimedes' quadruplets are special sets of four prime numbers that have a specific distance between them on a number line. They were discovered by a famous mathematician a long time ago, and they have a unique property that makes them interesting to study.