Solution:

To express 156 as a product of its prime factors, we need to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Find the smallest prime factor of 156.

156 is an even number, and hence it is divisible by 2. Therefore, we can write:

156 = 2 × 78

Step 2: Repeat step 1 until we get a prime factor.

78 is also an even number, and hence it is divisible by 2. Therefore, we can write:

78 = 2 × 39

We can see that 39 is not divisible by 2. Therefore, we need to find the next smallest prime factor of 39.

The smallest prime factor of 39 is 3. Therefore, we can write:

39 = 3 × 13

Step 3: Write the number as a product of its prime factors.

Now, we have expressed 156 as a product of its prime factors:

156 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 13

Therefore, the prime factorization of 156 is:

156 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 13

HTML bullet points:

• Step 1: Find the smallest prime factor of 156.


• Step 2: Repeat step 1 until we get a prime factor.


• Step 3: Write the number as a product of its prime factors.

HTML bold tags:

Step 1: Find the smallest prime factor of 156.
Step 2: Repeat step 1 until we get a prime factor.
Step 3: Write the number as a product of its prime factors.

156 = 2×2×3×13
or 156= 2²×3×13