Factoring and Primes - Intro

This math unit advances students' understanding of prime factorization, beginning with foundational skills in identifying and using factor trees and progressing to express factorizations using exponents. Initially, students practice prime factorization with basic two-factor trees, identifying pairs of factors that result in the target number. They then move on to complete similar exercises with increasing complexity, involving up to five factors in the factor trees. This sequential approach helps solidify the understanding of prime factors in a multipartite context. Towards the latter part of the unit, the focus shifts towards expressing numbers as products of prime factors using exponents, enhancing students' ability to succinctly represent and manipulate numbers in factorized form. Finally, the unit culminates with exercises designed to identify prime and composite numbers, solidifying the foundational understanding of the properties of numbers and their classifications as prime or composite, thereby rounding out their skills in factorization and number theory.