Gauss guessed
that Nature had chosen primes at random using
a dice. One number in six is prime amongst the
numbers less than 1000. Hence Gauss guessed that
for primes less than 1000, Nature used a dice
with 6 sides to decide if a number is prime. On
one side is painted the word "PRIME",
the other five are blank. To decide whether the
numbers from 1000 to 1030 say are prime, it looks
like Nature threw the prime number dice to decide
the prime-fate of each number.
Warning: the toss of a dice of course does not
make a number prime which isn't. Gauss is trying
to find a good model for the way the primes are
distributed. It looks like they have been chosen
with a dice rather than with any special pattern.
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