A prime number is a number greater than 1 which has only 1 and itself as factors.
A
composite number is a number which has factors other than 1 and itself.
In addition to 1 and 9, 9 has the factor pair 3 and 3.
So, 9 is a composite number.
Aside from 1 and 17, there are no other factor pairs for 17.
So, 17 is a prime number.