To find the prime factorization of 32, we start by looking for the smallest prime number that can divide 32 evenly. The smallest prime number is 2.
We divide 32 by 2:
32 ÷ 2 = 16
Next, we can take the result, which is 16, and divide it by 2 again:
16 ÷ 2 = 8
Continuing with 8:
8 ÷ 2 = 4
And then 4:
4 ÷ 2 = 2
Finally, dividing 2 by itself gives:
2 ÷ 2 = 1
Now that we can no longer divide into whole numbers, we can list out all the prime factors we used. We divided 32 by 2 four times, which means the prime factorization of 32 is:
2 x 2 x 2 x 2
In exponential form, this can be expressed as:
25
Thus, the prime factorization of 32 is 25.