Question

The prime factors of 24 are
A.$2 \times 3 \times 4$
B.$2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 3$
C.$6 \times 4$
D.$8 \times 3$

Answer 1

Hint: We have to find the factors of the number 24 which are all prime and the multiplication of those factors gives 24. We start by dividing the number by the smallest prime number which divides 24 completely. Next, write the quotient in the next line and again divide the number with the smallest prime that divides the number completely. Proceed in the same way to get the prime factorisation of 24.

Complete step-by-step answer:
We have to find the prime factorization of 24.
Prime numbers are those numbers which have only 2 factors, that is the number 1 and the number itself.
We know that prime factorization is finding the prime numbers corresponding to the given number such that when those prime numbers are multiplied together, they make the original number.
That is, we have to find the prime numbers which when multiplied together will give 24.
We will first divide the number by the smallest prime number which also divides 24 , that is 2.
Again, we will divide the new quotient with the smallest prime that can divide it completely and we will follow the same procedure till we get 1 as the quotient.

2	24
2	12
2	6
3	3
	1

Here, we can see that all the factors are prime numbers and when we multiply these factors, we will get 24.
Hence, the prime factorization of 24 is $2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 3$
Thus, option B is correct.


Note: We can also do this question by analysing the given options. We have to select the option which has factors that are prime numbers only and the multiplication of the factors should result in the given number, that is 24. Here, only $2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 3$ has all factors as prime numbers.