Talking to a seven year old (and in this case, a very sharp seven year
old),
I think I would just let him play around with the numbers and discover a
lot
on his own while encouraging him even in his failures. For your
information,
the problem he might be having is more in the definitions of the terms:
The factors of 400 are 1,2,4,5,8,16,20,25,50,50,80,100,200,and 400
The prime factors of 400 are 2 and 5.
The prime factorization of 400 is 2^4 x 5^2 ( I would have be happy if my
seven year old grandson would come up with 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 5 X 5.)
The composite numbers are the counting numbers greater than one which are
not prime.
So. Is there any composite number which is the same as its prime factors?
A
composite number would be the product of its prime factorization, but the
composite would not be the same as its prime factors.
"Gary S. Simon" <garscosi@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:garscosi-6AF3A6.13132420112007@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> My seven year-old son isn't much for notation. When I asked him the
> prime factors of 400, he said 2-4-5-2, meaning 2^4 and 5^2.
>
> When he asked whether there was any composite number which was the
> same as its prime factors (using his notation), I told him that I didn't
> know.
>
> Any ideas how to go abouit trying to answer his question?
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