Which of the following correctly expresses 48 as a product of prime factors?
Answer Details
To express 48 as a product of prime factors, we need to keep dividing it by prime numbers until we get to 1. Let's start with 2, which is the smallest prime number that can divide 48:
48 ÷ 2 = 24
We can continue dividing by 2 until we can't divide by 2 anymore:
24 ÷ 2 = 12
12 ÷ 2 = 6
6 ÷ 2 = 3
Now, we can see that we have reached a prime number, 3, so we stop dividing. Therefore:
48 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3
So the correct option is 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 or.