Question

Which shows the prime factorization of 50? (1 point)

Answer 1

$50 = 2 \cdot 5^2$

Answer 2

In order to factor a number, you have to try and check if it's divisible by all the possible primes, starting with the smaller ones.

So, we begin: 50 is divisible by 2 (the first prime), and we have

$50\div 2=25$

25 is not divisible by 2 nor by 3 (the next prime), so we try the next prime, which is 5. 25 is divisible by 5, and we have

$25\div 5=5$

Finally, 5 is itself a prime, and we have

$5\div 5=1$

So, we started from 50 and we finished at 1. To do so, we divided by 2 once and by 5 twice. This means that there are two "5"s and one "2" inside 50, and thus its prime factorization is

$50=2\cdot 5^2$