Prime factorization

Revision as of 16:24, 19 June 2006 by Inscrutableroot (talk | contribs) (proofreading)

By the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic, every positive integer has a unique prime factorization. What is a prime factorization? It is a representation of a number in terms of powers of primes (it is of the form ${p_1}^{e_1}\cdot$${p_2}^{e_2}\cdot{p_3}^{e_3}\cdots{p_k}^{e_k} = n$, where n is any natural number). Prime factorizations are important in many ways, for instance, to simplify fractions.

Example Problem