Prime
Main form: prime, adjective
Related forms: primality (whether or not something is prime)
Typical use:
- Something first, optimal, or best
- Something smallest, indecomposable, or atomic
Mathematics
The term prime is typically used to denote something that cannot be decomposed into smaller pieces. Alternative words used in mathematics to describe such things are indecomposable, simple, irreducible.
It is not necessary that every object is built from prime objects, though in various specific cases, that does happen; for instance, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic states that every natural number is a product of primes in a unique way (upto ordering).