Twin Prime Sieve

Abstract

A sieve is constructed for ordinary twin primes of the form 6m+/-1 that are characterized by their twin rank m. It has no parity problem. Non-rank numbers are identified and counted using odd primes p>=5. Twin- and non-ranks make up the set of positive integers. Regularities of non-ranks allow gathering information on them to obtain a Legendre-type formula for the number of twin-ranks near primorial arguments.