write each product as the product of the same factor:

1.)5 Ex:3
2.)a Ex:5
3.)(-j) Ex:2

I am not certain what the directions mean (write each product as a product of the factor)

53=5*5*5

niether do i

To write each product as the product of the same factor, we need to find a common factor that can be multiplied by each term in the product. Here's how we can do it for each given product:

1.) 5 Ex:3
To find the common factor, we need to break down the numbers into their prime factors. The prime factorization of 5 is just 5 itself. So, the common factor here would be 5. Therefore, we can write 5 Ex:3 as (5 x 5 x 5) Ex:3.

2.) a Ex:5
In this case, a is a variable, and we can assume it doesn't have any prime factors other than itself. Therefore, the common factor for this product would be 'a'. So, a Ex:5 can be written as (a x a x a x a x a) Ex:5.

3.) (-j) Ex:2
Similar to the previous case, (-j) is a variable and doesn't have any prime factors. Hence, the common factor would be (-j). Therefore, (-j) Ex:2 can be written as (-j x -j) Ex:2.

It's important to note that the common factor should be multiplied to each term in the product to maintain the equality.