Question

What is the prime factor of $71$?

Answer 1

Hint: To find the prime factors of the given number, we have to do prime factorization of it. But before that first we have to check from which numbers till $71$ we can divide $71$and get answers as an integer. All those integers are the prime factor but the integer should be positive.

Complete step by step answer:
To solve the above question, first we have to understand what is a prime factor. Prime factor is the factor of the given number which is a prime number. Factors are the numbers you multiply together to get another number. In simple words, we can say that the prime factor is finding which prime numbers multiply together to make the original number.

According to the prime factor definition, we know that the prime factor of a number is the product of all the factors that are prime (a number that divides by itself and only one).Hence, we can list the prime factors from the list of factors of $71$. Now, we will do the prime factorization of $71$ to find its factors. Therefore, if we keep on dividing $71$ with all the numbers till $71$, we will find that it is divisible by only $1$ and $71$. Now, we can write it as,
$ \therefore 71 = 1 \times 71$

Therefore, we can say that $71$ has only two prime factors that are $1$ and $71$.

Note: Suppose if we keep on dividing a number from all the numbers till we reach the given number. If we will be able to find a positive integer between one and the given number, it is clear that the given is a composite number otherwise it is a prime number.