2 and 3
Chat with our AI personalities
A Venn diagram may be used to display a prime factorization.
The idea is to divide numerator and denominator of a fraction by any common factors. Prime factorization is simply used to find all possible factors.
Prime factorization and the Euclidean algorithm
The prime factorization of a number uses only primes. Ex: The prime factorization of 12 is not 6 x 2, and not 4 x 3, because 6 and 4 are not prime numbers. The prime factorization is 2 x 2 x 3. Their product is 12 and all factors are prime numbers. To get a prime factorization you are usually taught to factor through division by small prime numbers, sometimes you must use the same number more than once as in the example of 12 above 2 was used twice. Ex: find the prime factorization of 18. The smallest prime is 2... divide by 2 18 / 2 = 9 .... for the next step divide 9 by a prime 9 / 3 = 3 ... this is a prme ... it is also a factor so the prime factorization is 18 = 2x3x3 Ex. find the prime factorization of 35. 35 cannot be divided by 2, or 3, so use 5 first 35 / 5 = 7 .... since 7 is a prime we are finished. The prime factorization of 35 is 35 = 5 x 7 Some teachers teach this using a "factor tree" .. I can't type one of those on a computer.
That is not what prime factorization is for.