What are the prime factors of 42 and 56?

Which prime factors do 42 and 56 have in common?

42:

6, 7
4, 11
3, 14
2, 21

56:
7, 8
4, 14
2, 28

Thank you!!

You're welcome.

To find the prime factors of a number, we need to determine the prime numbers that divide that number without leaving a remainder.

To begin, let's find the prime factors of 42:
1. Start by dividing 42 by the smallest prime number, which is 2. Since 42 is divisible by 2, we can divide 42 by 2, resulting in 21.
2. Next, divide 21 by 2 again. Since it is not divisible by 2, we move on to the next prime number, which is 3. Divide 21 by 3, and we get 7.
3. Now we have 7, which is a prime number. We can no longer divide it by any other prime number. Therefore, the prime factors of 42 are 2, 3, and 7.

Next, let's find the prime factors of 56:
1. Divide 56 by 2, and we get 28.
2. Divide 28 by 2 again, and we get 14.
3. Divide 14 by 2 once more, and we get 7.
4. Since 7 is a prime number, we stop here. Therefore, the prime factors of 56 are 2, 2, 2 (or 2^3), and 7.

Now, to find the prime factors that both 42 and 56 have in common, we can list their prime factors side by side:
Prime factors of 42: 2, 3, 7
Prime factors of 56: 2, 2, 2, 7

From the lists above, we can see that the only prime factor they have in common is 2 and 7.