What is prime factors of a number mean?

Answer 1

All non-zero numbers have factors. Some factors are prime numbers. Prime factors are factors that are prime numbers.

Answer 2

Somewhere in front of you was a list of numbers. The instructions were asking you to break down the numbers and write them as a product of their prime factors. This is known as the prime factorization. The prime factorization of 30 is 2 x 3 x 5.

Answer 3

All composite numbers can be expressed as unique products of prime numbers. This is accomplished by dividing the original number and its factors by prime numbers until all the factors are prime. A factor tree can help you visualize this.

Example: 210

210 Divide by two.

105,2 Divide by three.

35,3,2 Divide by five.

7,5,3,2 Stop. All the factors are prime.

2 x 3 x 5 x 7 = 210

That's the prime factorization of 210.