Q: What are the prime factors of the number 48,384?

 A: 2, 3, 7

Why are those the prime factors of the number 48,384?

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 48,384

48,384
Factor Arrows
224,192
Factor Arrows
212,096
Factor Arrows
26,048
Factor Arrows
23,024
Factor Arrows
21,512
Factor Arrows
2756
Factor Arrows
2378
Factor Arrows
2189
Factor Arrows
363
Factor Arrows
321
Factor Arrows
37

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, 7

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 7 = 48,384

This can also be written as 28 x 33 x 71 = 48,384

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


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