Prime Factorization of 128

Find the prime factorization of 128. Express 128 as a product of prime numbers.

Prime factorization of
Answer: 128 = 2^7
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1 Understand Prime Factorization

To find the prime factorization of 128, we need to express it as a product of prime numbers.


We do this by repeatedly dividing by the smallest prime that divides evenly, starting with 2.

A prime number is only divisible by 1 and itself (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ...).

Step 2 Divide by 2

Since 128 is even, we start by dividing by 2. We can divide by 2 7 times:


128 ÷ 2 = 64
64 ÷ 2 = 32
32 ÷ 2 = 16
16 ÷ 2 = 8
8 ÷ 2 = 4
4 ÷ 2 = 2
2 ÷ 2 = 1

After dividing by 2, we have 1 remaining.

Step 3 Write the Prime Factorization

Now we combine all the prime factors we found:


Expanded form: 128 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2


Exponential form: 128 = 2^7


We can verify: 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 128 ✓