“In Fourth Grade you learned to write numbers as a product of primes. Can you write 144 as the product of prime factors?” asked Mr. Moreno. “This is called prime factorization. A factor tree is one way to organize your work.”
  1. Brandon made a factor tree for 144. Look at his factor tree and read the explanation.
  1. Make a different factor tree for 144.
  2. What prime factors were identified using your factor tree from Question 3A?
Brandon rewrote his prime factorization using exponents.

2 2 2 2 3 3 = 144 can also be written as 24 32 = 144.

    1. Make a factor tree for 180.
    2. Write the prime factorization for 180 without exponents.
    3. Use exponents to write the prime factorization for 180.

Use the Factor Trees page in the Student Activity Book to practice using factor trees to find the prime factorization of a number.