Prime Factorization of 98

To find the prime factorization of 98, 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, ...).

Since 98 is even, we start by dividing by 2. We can divide by 2 once:

After dividing by 2, we have 49 remaining.

7 is a prime number that divides our current value. We can divide by 7 twice:

After dividing by 7, we have 1 remaining.

Now we combine all the prime factors we found:

Expanded form: 98 = 2 × 7 × 7

Exponential form: 98 = 2 × 7^2

We can verify: 2 × 7 × 7 = 98 ✓