Engineering practice is to assume that only 1–1/2 to 2 threads are engaged between male and female threaded fasteners at any point in the engagement, due to the fact that the threads are not perfectly formed when they are cut/rolled and the distance between any two thread peaks/valleys is slightly different from any other, adjacent, two.
This is why drilled and tapped hole depths are specified, in practice, as 1–1/2 to 2 times the thread diameter, to ensure that there is sufficient chance for adequate thread engagement and why nuts are much, much thinner than they would normally be, if their thickness was governed by the same practical standard. The nut heights are (about) 90% of the thread diameter, accounting for lead chamfers, because they can be located on the male fastener anywhere, and therefore the 3-5 threads in them will get 1–1/2 to 2 threads engaged, somewhere. The washers are used with them, or forged onto them, in order to provide a reaction surface to use to stretch the male threads once engagement occurs – this is what happens when you turn to torque.
This is also why threads are ground, if the thread engagement is critical. Ground threads are consistently spaced and therefore most consistently engaged along the length of engagement.