Prime Factors

Prime Factors | Number | Maths | FuseSchool

Every single positive number can be broken down into prime factors.
Every single positive number has a unique set of prime factors. It’s the fundamental theorem of arithmetic. Prime factors are used in cryptology to keep data safe. In this video we discover how to break a number down into it's prime factors.

This is known as the prime factor list or a prime factor tree. The prime factors of 90 are 2 X 3 X 3 X 5. We can use prime factorisation to find the highest common factors and lowest common multiples really easily, even for massive numbers!