How do you find the factors of 32?

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Answer 1 · 2016-12-05T22:09:53

See explanation.

To look for factors of a specified number you start from the smallest possible factors.

$32$ $32$ is an evan number, so $2$ $2$ is the smallest factor:

$32 \div 2 = 16$ $32-:2=16$

Again $16$ $16$ is even, so $2$ $2$ is also the factor of $16$ $16$ :

$16 \div 2 = 8$ $16-:2=8$

$8 \div 2 = 4$ $8-:2=4$

$4 \div 2 = 2$ $4-:2=2$

$2$ $2$ is prime, so it only is divisible by $1$ $1$ and itself.

Finally we can write that: $32 = 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 = 2^{5}$ $32=2xx2xx2xx2xx2=2^5$