Factoring and Greatest Common Factor - Intro

This math unit starts with developing a foundational understanding of prime factorization utilizing factor trees and advances towards expressing these factorizations in exponent form. As students progress, they learn to use Venn diagrams as a visual tool for identifying and calculating the greatest common factor (GCF) between pairs of numbers. The unit enhances factorization skills and deepens understanding through diverse problem setups, such as determining whether one number is a factor of another or both numbers in a given pair. The concluding topics focus on confirming number properties by distinguishing between prime and composite numbers. Overall, the unit builds a step-by-step competence in recognizing and applying factorizations and understanding their implications for identifying GCF, essential in simplifying fractions and other mathematical operations involving divisibility.