Formulate Foundations
Worksheet Description
The “Prime Power Play” worksheet presents a list of whole numbers and prompts students to express each one in exponential form using prime factors. It serves as an exercise in breaking down composite numbers into their prime components and then raising them to the appropriate exponents that showcase their prime factorization. For instance, the number 16, which is a power of 2, is already shown as 2<sup>4</sup>, indicating that students must identify the prime factors of each number and the number of times each prime factor is used.
This sheet teaches students the concept of prime factorization and its representation in exponential form. By working through the exercises, students learn how to decompose numbers into their basic building blocks—prime numbers. The worksheet reinforces the skill of identifying prime factors and the ability to succinctly express repeated multiplication of these factors using exponents. This foundational skill is essential for simplifying algebraic expressions and understanding the structure of numbers in higher mathematics.