Concept

Prime Factorization

Prime factorization, also called complete factorization, is the decomposition of a whole number into a product of its prime factors.
The prime factors are found by dividing the number by the smallest prime number that is a factor of that number. This process is repeated with the quotient until the resulting quotient is a prime number. The following table shows the prime factorization of
Number Smallest Prime Factor Quotient
Prime Factorization

Any whole number greater than can be factored into primes, and its factorization is unique. It should be noted that the prime factorization of a prime number is the number itself. Factor trees are also used to find prime factorizations.

Exercises