Q: What are the prime factors of the number 40,800?

 A: 2, 3, 5, 17

Why are those the prime factors of the number 40,800?

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 40,800

40,800
Factor Arrows
220,400
Factor Arrows
210,200
Factor Arrows
25,100
Factor Arrows
22,550
Factor Arrows
21,275
Factor Arrows
3425
Factor Arrows
585
Factor Arrows
517

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, 5, 17

We can check our work by multiplying all of the prime factors together: 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 5 x 5 x 17 = 40,800

This can also be written as 25 x 31 x 52 x 171 = 40,800

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


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