Math Snap

STEP 1

What is this asking?
What's the name of the method used to find the prime factors of a number, as shown in the tree diagram for 24?
Watch out!
Don't confuse factors with multiples!
Factors are numbers that divide evenly into a given number, while multiples are results of multiplying a number by an integer.

STEP 2

1. Identify the Method

STEP 3

The diagram shows a number being broken down into smaller and smaller factors until we're left with only prime numbers.
A prime number is a whole number greater than 1 that has only two divisors: 1 and itself.

STEP 4

We start with $\text{24}$ and break it down into $12 \cdot 2$.
Then we break down $12$ into $6 \cdot 2$.
Finally, we break down $6$ into $3 \cdot 2$.

STEP 5

This process of repeatedly breaking down a number into its factors, visually represented as a tree-like structure, is called prime factorization.
The diagram itself is called a factor tree.

The method used to identify the factors in the diagram is called prime factorization.