How often must an irreducible polynomial take a prime value?

Solution 1:

The values of the polynomial

$$x^2 + x + 4 = \left(x + \frac{1}{2} \right)^2 + \frac{15}{4}$$

are always divisible by $2$ and always greater than $2$, and thus are never prime.

Solution 2:

This is not known.

Dirichlet proved it for the linear polynomials.

There is a related conjecture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schinzel%27s_hypothesis_H