Decomposing a number into its prime factors is like taking an engine apart to see its elementary pieces. This technique will also be useful later on, when we work with polynomials.
Definition — Decomposition into prime factors
Every natural number can be written in a unique way (up to order) as a product of prime factors (Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic).
The uniqueness of the decomposition is the property that makes factorisation a reliable tool: we will return to it in the form of a theorem later on.
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Topics: Numbers and operations
Concepts: Prime factorisation · Prime number · Fundamental theorem of arithmetic
Skills: Decomposing