There is, apparently, a persistent belief that in the current state of knowledge it is not possible to obtain an asymptotic
formula for the number of partitions of a number
n into primes when
n is large. In this paper such a formula is obtained. Since the distribution of primes can only be described accurately by
the use of the logarithmic integral and a sum over zeros of the Riemann zeta-function one cannot expect the main term to involve
only elementary functions. However the formula obtained, when
n is replaced by a real variable, is in
C¥{\mathcal{C}}^{\infty}
and is readily seen to be monotonic.
Keywords Prime numbers - Partitions
Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 11P82 - 11P55
Research supported by NSA grant, no. MDA904-03-1-0082.