Q: What are the prime factors of the number 20,736?

 A: 2, 3

Why are those the prime factors of the number 20,736?

Prime factors are the prime numbers that can be multipled together to equal the original number. You find the factors by dividing by prime numbers. It is best shown by creating a Factor Tree.

Factor Tree for the number 20,736

20,736
Factor Arrows
210,368
Factor Arrows
25,184
Factor Arrows
22,592
Factor Arrows
21,296
Factor Arrows
2648
Factor Arrows
2324
Factor Arrows
2162
Factor Arrows
281
Factor Arrows
327
Factor Arrows
39
Factor Arrows
33

The numbers in bold above are the prime factors. If there are multiples, you only count them one time. This leads us to our prime factors of:

2, 3

We can check our work by multiplying all of the prime factors together: 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 20,736

This can also be written as 28 x 34 = 20,736

If you would like to know more, or need additional explanation, please review our prime factorization explanation.


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