Q: What are the prime factors of the number 971,856?

 A: 2, 3, 17, 397

Why are those the prime factors of the number 971,856?

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 971,856

971,856
Factor Arrows
2485,928
Factor Arrows
2242,964
Factor Arrows
2121,482
Factor Arrows
260,741
Factor Arrows
320,247
Factor Arrows
36,749
Factor Arrows
17397

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, 17, 397

We can check our work by multiplying all of the prime factors together: 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 17 x 397 = 971,856

This can also be written as 24 x 32 x 171 x 3971 = 971,856

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


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