express 48 as a product of prime numbers with exponents
To express 48 as a product of prime numbers with exponents, we need to find the prime factors of 48.
48 can be divided evenly by 2, so we start by dividing 48 by 2:
48 ÷ 2 = 24
Now, we divide 24 by 2 again:
24 ÷ 2 = 12
And again:
12 ÷ 2 = 6
Finally, we divide 6 by 2 one more time:
6 ÷ 2 = 3
Now, since 3 is a prime number, we have our complete factorization:
48 = 2^4 * 3