The prime factorization of 20 using exponents is 22 × 51.
To arrive at this result, we first need to identify the prime numbers that multiply together to give us 20. We can start by dividing 20 by the smallest prime number, which is 2:
- 20 ÷ 2 = 10
- 10 ÷ 2 = 5
- 5 is already a prime number.
From this, we see that we can express 20 as:
20 = 2 × 2 × 5
To write this using exponents, we note that there are two 2’s and one 5:
20 = 22 × 51
This is the prime factorization of 20 using exponents, where 2 is raised to the power of 2 because it appears twice, and 5 is raised to the power of 1 because it appears once.