Facts and

Factors
Number
Mathematics in Context is a comprehensive curriculum for the middle grades.
It was developed in 1991 through 1997 in collaboration with the Wisconsin Center
for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison and
the Freudenthal Institute at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, with the
support of the National Science Foundation Grant No. 9054928.

This unit is a new unit prepared as a part of the revision of the curriculum carried
out in 2003 through 2005, with the support of the National Science Foundation
Grant No. ESI 0137414.

National Science Foundation

Opinions expressed are those of the authors
and not necessarily those of the Foundation.

Abels, M., de Lange, J., and Pligge, M.,A. (2006). Facts and Factors.
In Wisconsin Center for Education Research & Freudenthal Institute (Eds.),
Mathematics in Context. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

All rights reserved.

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ISBN 0-03-038564-4

1 2 3 4 5 6 073 09 08 07 06 05
The Mathematics in Context Development Team
Development 2003–2005
Facts and Factors was developed by Meike Abels and Jan de Lange.
It was adapted for use in American schools by Margaret A. Pligge.

Wisconsin Center for Education Freudenthal Institute Staff

Research Staff
Thomas A. Romberg David C. Webb Jan de Lange Truus Dekker
Director Coordinator Director Coordinator
Gail Burrill Margaret A. Pligge Mieke Abels Monica Wijers
Editorial Coordinator Editorial Coordinator Content Coordinator Content Coordinator

Project Staff
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Photographs
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 Contents
Letter to the Student vi

Section A Base Ten

Hieroglyphics 1
Times Ten 3
Large Numbers 6
Exponential Notation 7
Scientific Notation 8
Summary 10
Check Your Work 11

Section B Factors
Pixels 13
Facts 17
Factors 17
Changing Positions 21 24

Summary 22
2 12
Check Your Work 23
2 6
Section C Prime Numbers
Upside-Down Trees 24 2 3

Primes 27
Prime Factors 29
Cubes and Boxes 30
Summary 32
Check Your Work 33

Section D Square and Unsquare

Square 35
Unsquare 37
Cornering a Square 37
Not So Square 40
Summary 42
Check Your Work 43

Section E More Powers

The Legend of the Chess Board 44
Powers of Two 46
Powers of Three 48
Different Bases 48
Back to the Egyptians 50
Summary 52
Check Your Work 53

Additional Practice 54
Answers to Check Your Work 60

Contents v
 Dear Student,

The numbers we use today are widely

used by people all over the world.
This might surprise you since there
are about 190 independent countries in the world, speaking over
5,000 different languages! This was not always the case. In the
unit Facts and Factors, you will investigate how ancient civilizations
wrote numbers and performed number computations. Looking into
the past will help you make more
sense of the way you write and
compute with numbers. You will
look into other numbering
systems in use today.

You will investigate some properties of digital photographs. By doing

so, you will learn more about the properties of numbers. How many
different pairs of numbers can you multiply to find a product of 36?
How about for a product of 51 or 53? You will expand your
understanding of all the real numbers.

We hope you enjoy this unit.

Sincerely,

The Mathematics in Context Development Team

vi Facts and Factors

A
Base Ten
Hieroglyphics MEDITERRANEAN SEA N
Alexandria Rosetta
W E

ES RA
ON
Heliopolis
Step back in time to a world without Giza

P R TA
S

SI
Cairo

DE QAT
Memphis
SINAI
computers, calculators, and television; LOWER

AR
N i l e R iv e
EGYPT

AB
to Egypt around 3000 B.C.

IA
Tell

N
El-Amarna

RE
At this time, Horus was the best stone Thebes Karnak

D
Abydos

LIB

DE
carver of his village. Valley of

SE
UPPER the Kings Luxor

SE
YA

A
RT
EGYPT Edfu
Aswan

N
He carved little pictures called 1st Cataract
Philae
hieroglyphs to record information. Tropic of Cancer

DE
Abu Simbel

SE
2nd Cataract

RT

Nil
e
R iver
NUBIA
Here is his latest work. The hieroglyphs on
the stone represent the number 1,333,331. 0 100 200 mi
0 100 200 300 km

This hieroglyph is an astonished man. Perhaps he is astonished

because he represents a very large number.

1. What number does the astonished man represent?

Section A: Base Ten 1

 A Base Ten

Here is the number 3,544 written in hieroglyphics.

2. How would Horus write your age? And 1,234?

Today, we use the Arabic system and the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,

8, and 9 to represent any number.
3. Complete the table on Student Activity Sheet 1 to compare the
Egyptian hieroglyphs with the Arabic numerals we use today.

Egyptian Egyptian Arabic English

Hieroglyph Description Numeral Word

vertical stroke 1 one

a heel bone

a coil or rope

lotus flower

pointing finger

tadpole

an astonished
man

4. What number is represented in this drawing?

5. How would Horus write 420? And 402?

6. How many Egyptian hieroglyphs do you need to draw the

number 999?
2 Facts and Factors
 Base Ten A

You found these three pieces of a stone containing Egyptian

hieroglyphs.

7. What number do they represent when placed altogether?

Today, Peter found these three tiles lying

on the ground by an abandoned house.
8. Can you figure out the address of this
house? Why or why not?

9. What are the differences between our

Arabic system of writing and using
numbers and the Egyptian system?

Times Ten
10. a. Draw the Egyptian number that is
ten times as large as this one.
b. Describe what the ancient
Egyptians would do to multiply
a number by ten.

In our Arabic number system, numerals in a number are called digits.

Digits have a particular value in a number.
For example, in the number 379:
The digit 3 has a value of 3 hundreds.
The digit 7 has a value of 7 tens.
The digit 9 has a value of 9 ones.

Section A: Base Ten 3

 A Base Ten

You can expand the number 379 with words as 3 hundreds and 7 tens
and 9 ones or as 3  100  7  10  9  1.
11. Expand the following numbers in the same way.
a. 628 b. 2,306 c. 256 d. 2,560

12. Compare your answer to 11c and d. What do you notice?

The pictures here compare multiplying a number by 10 for both

number systems.
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics vs. Arabic Number System

537

 10  10

5370

Sasha looks at the hieroglyphics and notices, “When you multiply a

number by 10, you only have to change each hieroglyph into a
hieroglyph of one value higher.”
13. a. Explain what Sasha means. Use an example in your
explanation.
b. What is the value of 7 in 537? And what is the value of
7 in 5,370?
c. What is the value of 3 in 537? And in 5,370?
d. Explain what happens to the value of the digits when you
multiply by ten.
e. Calculate 26 10 and 2.6 10.
f. Does your explanation from d hold for problem e?
If not, revise your explanation.

4 Facts and Factors

 Base Ten A

The Egyptian number system was not well suited for decimal or
fraction notation. The decimal notation we use today was developed
almost 4,000 years later. A Dutch mathematician, Simon Stevin,
invented the decimal point.
14. a. Explain the value of each digit in the number 12.574.
1 1
b. Write 7  100  6  1  4   
10  5  1000 as a single number.

If you multiply a decimal number by 10, the value of each digit is

multiplied by 10.
Consider the product of 57.38  10.

hundredths
hundreds

tenths
ones
tens

5 7 3 8
 10
5 7 3 8

57.38  10  573.8
1 1
57.38  5  10  7  1  3   
10  8  100
 10
1
573.8  5  100  7  10  3  1  8  
10

15. Calculate each product without using a calculator.

a. 4.8  10
b. 4.8  10  10
c. 6.37  10  10
d. 9.8  10  10  10
e. 1.25  1,000
f. 0.57892  1,000

Section A: Base Ten 5

 A Base Ten

Large Numbers
Numerals Words

1 one
10 ten
100 one hundred
1,000 one thousand
10,000 ten thousand
100,000 one hundred thousand
1,000,000 one million
10,000,000 ten million
100,000,000 one hundred million
1,000,000,000 one billion
10,000,000,000 ten billion
100,000,000,000 one hundred billion
1,000,000,000,000 one trillion

In 2004, the population of the United States was about 292 million,
and the world population was about 6 billion.
16. Write these populations using only numerals.

Notice that commas separate each group of three digits. This

makes the numbers easy to read. You read the number 2,638,577
as “two million, six hundred thirty-eight thousand, five hundred
seventy-seven.”
17. How do you read 4,370,000? And 1,500,000,000?

There are different ways to read and write large numbers. For
example, you can read 3,200,000 as: “three million, two hundred
thousand” or simply as “3.2 million.”
18. Write at least two different ways you can read each number.
a. 6,500,000
b. 500 million
c. 1.2 thousand
d. 750,000

6 Facts and Factors

 Base Ten A

19. Find each product and write your answers using only words.
a. One million times ten
b. One hundred times one hundred
c. One thousand times one thousand

20. a. How many thousands are in one million?

b. How many thousands are in one billion?
c. How many millions are in one billion?
d. Use numbers such as 10, 100, 1,000, and so on, to write five
different multiplication problems for which the answer is
1,000,000.

21. Suppose you counted from one to one million and every count
would last one second. How long would this take?

Exponential Notation
To save time writing zeroes and counting zeroes, scientists invented a
special notation, called exponential notation.

The number 1,000 written in exponential notation is 103 (read as

“ten raised to the third power” or “ten to the third”).
1,000 103 because 1,000 10 10 10

3 exponent

10 base

In 103, the 10 is the base, and the 3 is the exponent.

22. Write each number in exponential notation.

a. 100 b. 1,000,000,000 c. 10,000,000,000

23. Write each number in numerals and words.

a. 104 b. 101 c. 106

Section A: Base Ten 7

 A Base Ten

Scientific Notation
How does your calculator display large numbers? To find out, answer
the following:
24. a. On a calculator, enter 9s until all places on the display are
occupied. Record the number displayed in your notebook.
b. Without using the calculator, what happens when you add 1
to this number? Calculate the answer in your notebook. Write
your answer in exponential notation. Identify the base and
the exponent.
c. Now, use your calculator to add 1 to the large number
displayed (the one with all 9s). Record the new number
displayed.
d. Explain what each part of the number displayed means.
e. In your notebook, calculate the product of 2,000,000,000 
3,000,000,000. Verify your calculation using your calculator.
If needed, revise your answer for part d.

For very large numbers, most calculators switch to scientific notation

(Sci) mode. The display shows a number between 1 and 10 and a
power of ten.
Calculators display scientific notation in a variety of ways. Here are
two different calculator displays for the 2004 world population
of 6,400,000,000 people.

6.4 09 6.4 E 09

The number that is displayed is the product: 6.4  109.

8 Facts and Factors

 Base Ten A

25. a. Write 6.4  109 in numerals and words.

b. What numbers are displayed here?

4 06 3.8 04

The distance from the earth to the moon is approximately

240 thousand miles.

26. How would your calculator display this distance in scientific

notation?

Section A: Base Ten 9

 A Base Ten

The Arabic Number System you use today

hundredths
is a positional system using the numerals
0 through 9. The position of each digit in a

tenths
ones
tens
number determines its value. You can read
the number 79.54 as “seventy-nine and
fifty-four hundredths.” 7 9 . 5 4

4 hundredths
You can expand the number 79.54 as: 5 tenths
1 1 9 ones
7  10  9  1  5   
10  4  100 7 tens
5 4
or 70  9   
10  100 .

Multiplying by Ten

If you multiply a decimal number by 10, the value of each digit is

multiplied by 10.
For example: 79.54  10
hundredths
hundreds

tenths
ones
tens

7 9 5 4
 10
7 9 5 4

79.54  10  795.4
1 1
79.54  7  10  9  1  5   
10  4  100
 10
1
795.4  7  100  9  10  5  1  4  
10

10 Facts and Factors

Exponential Notation

Exponential notation is a shorter way to write repeated multiplication.

For example: 10  10  10  10  10  10  10  107.
You can read 107 as “ten to the seventh power” or “ten to the seventh.”
In 107, the 10 is the base, and 7 exponent

the 7 is the exponent. 10 base

Scientific Notation
Calculators display very large numbers using scientific notation.
The number is displayed as a product of a number between 1 and 10
and a power of ten.
A calculator displaying 4.5 07 represents

the product 4.5  107  4.5  10,000,000

 45,000,000

1. Calculate the following without using a calculator.

a. 1,000  10  10 d. 63.7  100
b. 1,000  1,000 e. 0.58  1,000
c. 63.7  10

2. a. Use numbers such as 10, 100, 1,000, and so on, to write five
different multiplication problems for which the answer is one
billion.
b. Write five more multiplication problems similar to those in part
a, but for which the answer is 2,270,000.

Section A: Base Ten 11

 A Base Ten

3. Calculate the following and write your answers three different

ways: in exponential notation, as a single number, and in words.
a. 104  103
b. 1,000,000 10,000
c. ten  one hundred  one thousand
d. one thousand  one million

4. a. Fill in the missing exponents and then write the answer as a

single number.
2.25  104 
22.5  10? 
225  10? 
b. Make up a problem similar to the one in a. Ask a classmate to
solve your problem.

Here are two different calculator

displays of the same number. 5.1 06 5.1 E 06
5. a. Explain what is displayed.
b. Write this number as a
single number.

Write a short paragraph for a school newsletter describing the

benefits of using scientific notation for very large numbers.

12 Facts and Factors

B
Factors
Pixels
Jacqui and Nikki are friends. They used to be
neighbors, but Nikki moved to Cleveland. Now
they maintain their friendship by using the
Internet. They send e-mail to each other and
chat online at least once a day.
Today after school, Jacqui checks her e-mail. After
about three minutes, she realizes Nikki’s message
is taking longer than usual to download. After
waiting impatiently for ten minutes, Jacqui asks
her brother, “Dave, what can I do? Look at that bar
on the computer screen!”

Here is a screen shot of the bar on Jacqui’s computer after 12 minutes.

1. Estimate how many more minutes Jacqui will have to wait to

download this message completely. Show how you found
your answer.

Nikki’s e-mail included a picture with her

new puppy.
Dave remarks, “It’s a cute picture, but the
size of the file is too large. Send her an
e-mail and tell her that she has to make
the files smaller before she sends them.”
Jacqui says, “Dave, how can she do that?
I don’t even know how to do that.”
Dave shares what he knows about digital
pictures.

Section B: Factors 13
 B Factors

A digital picture is made up of many little colored squares. These little

squares are PICture ELements, or pixels.

The number of pixels determines the file size:

the more pixels, the larger the file size.
Here is a smaller file of Nikki and her dog.
The number of pixels has decreased
dramatically: you can now see the pixels.
You will now investigate the effect of changing
the number of pixels per inch (ppi).

Pictures 1, 2, and 3 are the same picture.

Picture 1 has side lengths of two inches.
2. a. How many pixels do you count along one inch?
b. What is the total number of pixels in Picture 1?

Picture 2 shows the same pixel pattern but uses more

pixels per inch (ppi).
Picture 1 3. a. How many pixels per inch are in Picture 2?
b. Without counting, what can you tell about the
number of pixels per inch in Picture 3?

Compare Pictures 1, 2, and 3.

4. Describe how the pictures are the same and how
they are different.
Picture 2
You probably didn’t find the total number of pixels
by counting all the small squares. For counting the
pixels in Picture 1, you may have multiplied 12  12.
Whenever you multiply a number by itself, you are
Picture 3 squaring the number.

5. Why do you think the expression “squaring a

number” is used?

14 Facts and Factors

 Factors B

Two ways to indicate squaring the number 12 are 122 or 12^2. Both
represent 12  12, which gives an answer of 144.

Picture 1 has 12 pixels along each side, for a total of 122, or 144 total
pixels.
Numbers like 144, which result from squaring a number, are called
square numbers or perfect square numbers.
6. Find at least five different perfect square numbers. Share your list
with a classmate. See if each of you can guess the number before
it was squared.

Earlier, you compared the same pixel pattern for three different sized
pictures. The pictures became smaller, but the total number of pixels
did not change.
If you want to reduce the size of a picture file, then
you must reduce the total number of pixels. You will
now investigate ways to reduce the number of pixels
by changing the number of pixels per inch (ppi).
This square picture of a pink rose has sides of 1 inch.
7. a. What is the total number of pixels if there are 200 ppi?
b. What is the total number of pixels if there are 100 ppi?
Note that the sides of the picture stay 1 in.
And 50 ppi? And 25 ppi?
c. Copy this table and record your answers from b in column 2.
Describe how the pixels per inch (ppi) in column 1 change
from row to row.

ppi Total Number of Pixels Download Time

200

100

50

25

d. How does the total number of pixels decrease as the number

of pixels per inch is cut in half?
e. The download time decreases as the total number of pixels
decrease.The download time for a 200 ppi picture is16 seconds.
Use this information to fill in the last column of your table.

Section B: Factors 15
 B Factors

The picture Nikki included with her e-mail had 400 ppi and dimen-
sions of 3 in. by 4 in.
8. How many total pixels were in the picture Nikki e-mailed? Show
your calculations.

In the unit Expressions and Formulas, you used arithmetic trees to

help organize your calculations.
4 400 3 400 400 400 3 4

   
?
______ ?
______ ?
______ ?
______

 
?
______ ?
______

9. Explain how each arithmetic tree relates to problem 8.

10. a. Without changing the size of her picture (3 in. by 4 in.), Nikki
reduced the number of pixels to 200 ppi. How many total
pixels make up Nikki’s new picture?
b. Use the information from Nikki’s picture to copy and complete
this table.

ppi Total Number of Pixels

400

200

100

c. In the table, the number of ppi is cut in half. What happens to

the total number of pixels?

Jacqui waited about 48 minutes for Nikki’s original picture to download.

11. a. What would have been the download time if the picture had
200 ppi instead of 400 ppi?
b. And if the picture had 100 ppi?

16 Facts and Factors

 Factors B

Facts
Here is Nikki’s picture reduced too much—
it has just five pixels per inch.
Images appear nicely on a computer screen
if there are at least 72 pixels per inch.

Factors
In the previous problem, you might have calculated the total
number of pixels by using division: 480,000  4 ___ , or
multiplication: 4  ___  480,000.
Division and multiplication operations relate to each other in this way.
Using either operation, you found that the total number of pixels
decreased from 480,000 to 120,000. Two number sentences for this
context are 480,000  4  120,000, and 4  120,000  480,000.
The whole numbers 4 and 120,000 are called factors of 480,000.
12. a. Find four different factors of 48.
b. Can you find a factor of 45 without making a calculation?
Explain.
c. How do you know that 2 is not a factor of 45?

You may remember some divisibility rules. Divisibility rules involve

division of whole numbers without any remainders. Here are three
divisibility rules:
• A number is divisible by 3 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 3.
• A number is divisible by 4 if the last two digits form a number
that is divisible by 4.
• A number is divisible by 9 if the sum of its digits is divisible by 9.

13. a. Is 2,520 divisible by 3? By 4? By 9?

b. Is 2,520 divisible by 5? Write a rule for divisibility by 5.
c. How can you check whether or not 2,520 is divisible by 6?
d. What other rules for divisibility do you know?
Section B: Factors 17
 B Factors

Jacqui prints 24 square pictures. She wants to use all 24 pictures to

make a rectangular display in her room.
She begins to investigate all possible arrangements so she can
choose the one she wants. First, she sketches one rectangular
arrangement.
Then she decides to make a list of all possible arrangements.

Jacqui’s 24 pictures:

One possible rectangular arrangement of 24 pictures: 6 across

and 4 vertical:

List of all possible rectangular arrangements:

1 by 24 6 by 4
2 by 12 8 by 3
3 by 8 12 by 2
4 by 6 24 by 1

She asks Dave if she has them all. Dave sees the list and says, “I think
1 by 24 is the same as 24 by 1.”
14. Do you agree with Dave? Why or why not?

18 Facts and Factors

 Factors B

24
Jacqui decides to draw one of
22 her picture arrangements on
graph paper.
20

18

16

14

12

10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

24
(1, 24) Here is a graph showing all of
the rectangular arrangements
22 in Jacqui’s list.
20 15. a. Explain what the graph
shows.
18
b. How would you label
16
the axes?
14
c. Describe what each pair
12
(2, 12) of coordinates has in
common.
10
Since 3  8  24, 3 and 8 are
(3, 8)
8 factors of 24.
(4, 6)
6 16. List all of the possible
(6, 4) factors of 24.
4
(8, 3)
(12, 2)
How can you be sure you
2 have them all?
(24, 1)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Section B: Factors 19
 B Factors

17.a. Create a graph showing all the points that represent factors of
25. How many points are on this graph?
b. Create a graph showing all the points that are factors of 23.
How many points are on this graph?
c. Describe a relationship between the number of points on the
graph and the number of factors.

18. a. Which numbers will always have an odd number of factors?

b. Which numbers will always have an even number of factors?
c. For what number does the graph of factors have exactly one
point?

19. a. Find at least five numbers with exactly two factors.

b. What do you notice about the factors of the five numbers you
found in part a?

The numbers you found in problem 19a are called prime numbers.
They have exactly two factors: the number one and the number itself.
You will further investigate prime numbers in the next section.
You may have discovered an easy way to list all of the factors of a
number.
Rosa, Lloyd, and Rachel, are finding all of the factors of 36.
Here is their work.
Rachel
Lloyd: Rosa:
All factors of 36 are 1 and 36
1, 36, 2, 18, 3, 12, …   2 and 18
3 and 12 . . .
1 2 3 12 18 36

20. a. If you continue Rosa’s list, how will you know when to stop?
b. Finish Rachel’s work to find all of the factors of 36.
c. Use one of these strategies to find all of the factors of 96.

20 Facts and Factors

Changing Positions
In this activity, each of the students standing will be holding a card
with a number from a special set.
You will need cards numbered from 1 to the total number of students
in class.
Follow these steps:

Step i. Each student receives a card and stands up.

Step ii. Does the number 2 go into the number on your card?
If the answer is YES, then that student must sit down;
otherwise, the student remains standing.
Step iii. Does the number 3 go into the number on your card?
If the answer is YES, then change your position.
If standing, sit down; if sitting, stand up.

Check that you are playing the game correctly by discussing these
questions:
● After Step iii, is the student with the number 5 standing
or sitting?
● Is the student with the number 12 standing or sitting?

If everyone agrees, continue asking Does the number ___ go into

the number on your card? Don’t forget to change your position
whenever you answer YES.
Step iv. Does the number 4 go into the number on your card?
If you answer YES, then change your position.
If standing, sit down; if sitting, stand up.

Continue these steps asking whether the number on the card

is divisible by 5, then 6, then 7, and so on, until you reach the total
number of students in the class.

21. a. What numbers belong to the students who are standing at the
end? What is common to these numbers?
b. If you did this activity with 100 students, what numbers would
the students who are standing at the end be holding?

Section B: Factors 21
 B Factors

Squaring
Multiplying a number by itself is squaring a number.
Two ways to indicate the squaring of a number, such as 3, are 32 and
3^2. Both represent 3  3, which gives an answer of 9.
The numbers that result from squaring a number are called square
numbers or perfect square numbers.

Factors
5 is a factor of 30 because 30 divided by 5 is a whole number.
30  5  6 and 5  6  30, so 6 is another factor of 30. All the
factors of 30 are:

1 2 3 5 6 10 15 30

Divisibility
To see if a number is divisible by a certain number, you can follow
some rules of divisibility.
A number is divisible:
by 2 if the last digit is even,
by 3 if the sum of the digits is divisible by three,
by 5 if the last digit is a zero or a five,
by 9 if the sum of its digits is divisible by nine.

Prime Number
A number is a prime number if it has exactly two factors—the number
itself and the number one.

22 Facts and Factors

 1. At Green Middle School, there are 945 students. Is it possible to
split up all of the students into groups of three? Into groups of
six?

2. Find all of the factors of:

a. 15 c. 53
b. 32 d. 17

3. a. Give an example of a number that has an even number of

factors.
b. Give an example of a number that has an odd number of
factors.
c. What name do you give the numbers having an odd number
of factors?

4. List all numbers from 1 to 100 that are perfect square numbers.

Consider these statements.

“All even numbers have 2 as a factor. Therefore, there are no
even primes.”
“An even number divided by an even number is even.”

Tell whether each statement is true or false. Justify your reasoning.

Section B: Factors 23
 C
Prime Numbers
Upside-Down Trees

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?
7 7 7 7

 
?
______ ?
______


?
______

In Section B, you used an arithmetic tree to organize your calcula-

tions.
1. Use an arithmetic tree to calculate 2  5  7  7.

Here are two different arithmetic trees to calculate 5  5  2  6  3.

5 5 2 6 3 5 5 2 6 3

   
?
______ ?
______ ?
______ ?
______

 
?
______ ?
______

 
?
______ ?
______

2. a. Will they both give the same result? Why or why not?
b. Which arithmetic tree would you prefer to use? Why?

24 Facts and Factors

 Prime Numbers C

You can write 150 as a product of two factors.

2  3  5  5  150
150  3  50

Both numbers, 3 and 50, are factors of 150.

a product of four factors 3. a. Explain why 10 is a factor of 150.
b. What is a factor? Use your own words to
describe “factor.”

An upside-down arithmetic tree can help you to

write a number as a product of factors.
24
4. a. What information does the upside-down
arithmetic tree give you?
2 12
b. Use the “end numbers” (the numbers at
the end of the tree) to write 24 as a
2 6 product of factors.

2 3

These special arithmetic trees are called factor trees. In these factor
trees, you will only see multiplication signs. Here is the beginning of
a factor tree for the number 1,560.
1,560

10  156

2  5

5. a. Copy and complete the factor tree for the number 1,560.
Take the branches out as far as possible.
b. How will you know when you are completely finished with
the tree?
c. Use the end numbers to write 1,560 as a product of factors.
d. Would you use the number 1 as an end number? Why or why
not?
Section C: Prime Numbers 25
 C Prime Numbers

When you have taken a factor tree out as far as possible, you have
completely factored the original number. The number 1 is a factor of
every number, but it is not necessary to include 1s in a factor tree.
6. Completely factor each number. Use a factor tree to write each
number as a product of the end numbers.
a. 56 c. 420
b. 285 d. 3,432

Hakan and Alberta each begin a factor tree to completely factor 1,092.
Hakan realizes that 1,092 is Alberta realizes that 1,092 is
even, so he starts his tree divisible by both 2 and 3, so
like this. it is divisible by 6. She starts
her tree like this.
1,092
1,092

2 546
6 182

7. a. In your notebook, finish Hakan’s and Alberta’s factor trees.

b. Do you get the same factors at the ends of the branches of
both trees?

8. a. Refer back to all of the trees you have made so far and compile
a list of all the end numbers.
b. You learned another name for these end numbers in Section B.
What is it?
c. Find at least three other possible end numbers that are not
already on your list for part a.

26 Facts and Factors

 Prime Numbers C

Primes
The end numbers of all factor trees are prime numbers. In Section B,
you discovered that prime numbers have exactly two factors, the
number one and the number itself.
Numbers that are not prime numbers are called composite numbers.
The number 1 is neither a prime number, nor a composite number.

The ancient Greeks used prime numbers. Eratosthenes discovered a

method to extract all of the prime numbers from 1 to 100. Beginning
with a list of 100 numbers, he sifted out the prime numbers by cross-
ing off multiples of numbers.

The multiples of 2 are 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on.

9. a. What is the next multiple of 2?
b. List the first five multiples of 3.
c. Are there any numbers common to both lists? Explain.

Section C: Prime Numbers 27

 Use Student Activity Sheet 2 and problems 10–15 to recreate
Eratosthenes’ method for extracting the prime numbers.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

10. a. Circle the number 2 and put an X through all of the other
multiples of 2.
b. The numbers with an X through them are not prime.
Why not?
11. a. Circle 3 and put an X through all other multiples of 3.
b. Explain why you do not need to put an X through all of the
multiples of 4.
c. Do you need to cross out multiples of 6? Explain why.
d. Pablo went through these steps and said, “I cannot find
any number that is divisible by 12 that has not been
crossed out.” Is Pablo correct? Explain your answer.
e. Marisa argues that even if you extended the table to the
number 1,000, all numbers in the table that are divisible
by 24 would already have been crossed out. Do you agree?
Explain.

28 Facts and Factors

 12. a. Circle 5 and put an X through all other multiples of 5 that
have not been crossed out.
b. What is the first number you put an X through?
c. Circle 7. Without looking at the table, name the first
multiple of 7 that you will have to put an X through. How
were you able to determine this number? Now cross out
the other multiples of 7.
d. Why is it unnecessary to cross out all of the multiples of 8, 9,
and 10?

13. a. Circle 11. What multiple of 11 will you put an X through

first?
b. Circle all numbers that have not been crossed out.
c. What numbers did you circle?
d. In what columns do these circled numbers appear?

14. a. Explain why you crossed out only multiples of prime

numbers.
b. Explain why you needed to cross out multiples of primes
only up to the number 11.

Prime Factors
The number 8 can be completely factored into a product of prime
numbers: 8  2  2  2.
15. a. Write each composite number between 2 and 10 as a product
of prime numbers.
b. Do you think it is possible to write all numbers by using only
prime numbers and multiplication?

By using factor trees, you can find all of the prime factors of a
number.
16. a. Use the factor tree method to find the prime factors
of 156.
b. Write 156 as a product of prime factors.

Section C: Prime Numbers 29

 C Prime Numbers

Here is another method you can use to find all of the prime
factors of a number.

156 2
——
78
—— 2
39
—— 3
13
—— 13
1

17. a. Compare this method with the tree method.

b. Use this method to find all prime factors of 72.

Cubes and Boxes

Helena manages the shipping department
for Learning Is Fun, Inc., a company that
makes centimeter cubes for use in schools.
18. a. One type of box holds 24 cubes.
What are the possible dimensions
of this box?
b. Another type of box holds 45 cubes.
Can this box have the same height
as a box that holds only 24 cubes?
Explain why or why not.

In order to be able to stack the boxes easily, Learning Is Fun would

like the boxes to have the same length and width. Every box shipped
is completely filled with centimeter cubes.
19. Is it possible for the two types of boxes in problem 18 to have the
same length and width? Explain and give the length, width, and
height of both types of boxes.

30 Facts and Factors

 Prime Numbers C

Learning Is Fun also packages cubes in two different large-sized

boxes. One box holds 210 cubes, and the other holds 315 cubes. The
larger boxes have to be completely filled with centimeter cubes.
20. a. Is it possible for these two boxes to have the same height?
Explain your answer.
b. Helena wants the boxes to have the same dimensions for the
bottom so the boxes stack easier. Is this possible? If so, what
are the possible dimensions for the bottom?
c. What information do you have to know about the numbers
210 and 315 in order to help you answer parts a and b above?

Learning Is Fun now wants to make an extra large box to hold 525
cubes.

21. a. What are possible dimensions for this box? Name at least
three possibilities.
b. Is it possible to make boxes for 210, 315, and 525 cubes with
the same dimensions for the bottom? Explain your answer.
c. How can prime factorization help you to solve this problem?

Section C: Prime Numbers 31

 C Prime Numbers

In this section, you used factor trees and other methods to completely
factor composite numbers into a product of prime factors. The end
numbers of the trees are prime numbers.

Prime Numbers
Prime numbers have exactly two factors, the number one and the
number itself.

Composite Numbers
Numbers that are not prime are called composite numbers.
The number 1 is neither a prime number nor a composite number.

A product of factors
You can write 150 as a product of four factors:
150  2  3  5  5

2355

a product of four factors

The numbers 2, 3, and 5 are factors of 150.

You can also write 150 as a product of two factors.

150  3  50
Another factor of 150 is 50.
All of the factors of 150 are 1, 2, 3, 5, 6,10,15, 25, 30, 50, 75, and 150.
The prime factors of 150 are 2, 3, and 5.

32 Facts and Factors

Finding Prime Factors
You learned two methods to find all of the prime factors of a number.
By using factor trees, you can find all prime factors of a number.
140

2  70

2  35

5  7

Here is another method to find all the prime factors of a number.

140 2
——
70
—— 2
35
—— 5
7
—— 7
1
You can use all the end numbers to completely factor 140 as a
product of primes.
140  2  2  5  7
The prime factors of 140 are 2, 5, and 7.

1. Use an arithmetic tree to calculate 5  7  4  5  2.

2. Which of these numbers are composite numbers? Explain your

answer.
12 19 39 51

Section C: Prime Numbers 33

 C Prime Numbers

3. Use any method you like to completely factor each number into a
product of primes.
a. 99
b. 750
c. 264

4. a. What are the possible dimensions of a box that can

completely be filled with eight centimeter cubes? Name
at least three possibilities.
b. What are the possible dimensions of a box for 50 centimeter
cubes? Name at least three possibilities.

Seven houses contain seven cats.

Each cat kills seven mice.
Each mouse had eaten seven
ears of grain.
Each ear of grain would have
produced seven hekats of wheat.
What is the total of all of these?

Write a five-sentence verse similar to the one above that begins:

“Five students had five friends. Each friend had….” At the conclusion,
find the total number of the things you mention in the verse.

34 Facts and Factors

D
Square and Unsquare
Square
Think back to Section B, where you squared numbers. In this section,
you will continue squaring numbers using the context of area.
1. a. Draw a square with the dimensions 3 cm by 3 cm.
b. How many squares (1 cm by 1 cm) completely cover the
square you just drew?
c. Explain how squaring is related to the area of the square you
drew in a.

2. a. Copy and complete this table filling in the area of the square
with side lengths going from 1 cm through 10 cm.

Length of Side (in cm) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Area of Square (in cm2)

b. Is this table a ratio table? Explain why or why not.

c. Use the grid on Student Activity Sheet 3 to graph the
information from your table. Connect all points with
a smooth curve.
d. Describe the curve of your graph. Explain what this curve
tells you. Keep this graph. You will use it again in problem 7.

For problems 3–7, use centimeter graph paper.

3. a. Draw a square with the dimensions 1 cm by 1 cm.
b. What is the area of this square?
c. Draw a square with the dimensions –12– cm by –12– cm.
d. Use your two drawings to explain that –1–  –1–  –1– .
2 2 4

Now you will look at larger squares.

4. a. Draw a square with the dimensions 1 –1– cm by 1 –1– cm.
2 2
b. Use this drawing to calculate the area of the square.
(Remember the unit Reallotment.)

Section D: Square and Unsquare 35

 D Square and Unsquare

The number 1 –1– is called a mixed number. It is a whole number and

2
fraction combined.
5. a. Use a drawing to calculate the area of a square with side
lengths of 2 –12– cm.
b. Use a drawing to calculate 3 –1–  3 –1– .
2 2
c. What does (4 –– ) mean? Calculate (4 –1– )2.
1 2
2 2
d. 1 2
Calculate (5 –– ) .
2

6. Use your results of problems 4 and 5 to add five more points

to your graph of problem 2c.

Nicole uses the pattern in her

answers to problem 5 to say,
“There is a pattern to squaring
these halves! Look, if I want to
calculate 6 –12–  6 –12– , I just calculate
6  7 and then add –14– .”

7. a. Show how you can use your graph to see whether or not
Nicole’s idea makes sense.
b. Use a drawing of a square with side lengths of 6 –12– cm to show
that Nicole is right. Will Nicole’s idea always work? How do you
know?
c. Use Nicole’s idea to calculate 9 –1–  9 –1– .
2 2
d. Use your graph from problem 2 to check whether or not your
answer to c is reasonable.
e. Use that same graph to estimate the area of a square with side
lengths of 3.8 cm.

36 Facts and Factors

 Square and Unsquare D

Unsquare

Cornering a Square
• Use Student Activity Sheet 4. Cut out the 8 cm by
8 cm grid. What is the area of this shape?
• Fold all four corners so that they meet in the center.
What is the shape of this folded paper? What is its
area? Measure the length of each side of the shape
with a ruler. (Hint: You might want to look at the back
of the shape.)
• Fold all four of the new corners so that they meet in
the middle. Repeat this process until you have looked
at a total of five shapes. Each time you fold the four
corners, write down the name of the shape, the area
of the shape, and the length of one of its sides.
• How does the area change each time you fold to
make a new shape?

In the activity, you measured a side length of a square with an area

of 32 square centimeters (cm2). Mina did the same activity and mea-
sured the length as 5.6 cm. When Justin did the activity, he measured
the length as 5.7 cm.
8. a. How do your measurements compare with Mina’s and Justin’s
measurements?
b. When Vance looked at Mina’s and Justin’s answers, he
commented that they were close to the correct answer, but
not exact. How could he tell?

Section D: Square and Unsquare 37

 D Square and Unsquare

Kay, Juanita, and Rick are having a conversation about the

side length of the square with an area of 32 cm2.
Kay: “Juanita, I don’t think 5.6 cm or 5.7 cm is precise
5.6568542 enough. If we take the number out to more decimal
places, we will get the exact length. Let’s try 5.65
because it is exactly halfway between 5.6 and 5.7.”
Juanita: “I don’t think that will help, Kay. A number with
decimals multiplied by itself will never give a whole
number as an answer.”
Rick: “I figured it out on my calculator and got 5.6568542.
That has to be the exact answer.”
Kay: “Great job, Rick! Let’s check it out.”

9. a. At the beginning of the conversation, Kay and Juanita disagree.

Who do you think is right? Explain.
b. How did Rick find the number 5.6568542 with his calculator?

Juanita forgot her calculator and writes 5.6568542 on a piece of paper.

She starts figuring whether or not Rick’s number is the exact length of
the side of the square. Rick uses his calculator to check the number he
found.
10. a. How could Juanita check the number without a calculator?
Based on Juanita’s computation, is Rick’s number the exact
length of the side of the square?
b. How could Rick check the number with his calculator? Do
the same with your calculator. Write down your keystrokes
and result.

38 Facts and Factors

 Square and Unsquare D

You will now use a calculator to find the side length of a

square with an area of 52 cm2. The length of this side (or the
side length of any square) can be found by taking the square

52 root of the area.
11. What does the square root key do?
12. Use Student Activity Sheet 5 to investigate the square
root of 52. Write a paragraph describing your findings
and what you think about the exact value of 
52.
13. Draw a square that has an area of 20 cm2. Explain the
strategy you used.

14. a. For which numbers listed here would it be easy to find the
square root? Write down the square roots of the numbers you
choose.
24 49 121 120 81 72
1 64 2.5 0.25 225 525
b. Consider the numbers that you did not choose in part a.
Use your calculator to approximate the square roots of
these numbers.

15. How can you tell whether or not you can give an exact number
for a square root?

16. a. How can you find what whole number is the closest to 
24?
Explain this without the use of a calculator.
b. Draw a number line from –6 to 6 and place the following
numbers on the number line.


36 5 5 
5 
5 
6 
17 half of 
50

Section D: Square and Unsquare 39

 D Square and Unsquare

Not So Square

The floor of Nathan’s room is 2 –1– m by 4 –1– m. His room will be

2 2
redecorated, and the floor will be redone. In order to estimate the
cost of the new floor covering, Nathan estimates the area of the
floor to be about 8 –1– m2.
4
17. a. How did Nathan arrive at his answer?
b. Show that this answer cannot be right.
c. On graph paper, make a scale drawing of the floor of Nathan’s
room. Use the scale drawing to calculate the area of the floor.

40 Facts and Factors

 Square and Unsquare D

During the fall, Nathan earns extra money working at the apple
orchard. In one hour, he fills 3 –12– bushels of apples. How many
bushels will he fill after working 6 –1– hours?
2

A solution to this problem involves calculating 3 –1–  6 –1– . Although

2 2
bushels of apples and hours are involved, you can use the area
model to make a calculation. In this case, the area is 3 –1–  6 –1– , and
2 2
the rectangle is 3 –1– by 6 –1–.
2 2
1
6 2

3 18

1
2

18. a. Copy the area model above and use it to

find the number of bushels of apples Nathan
will fill after working for 6 –1– hours.
2
b. Use the area model to calculate 3 –1–  4 –1– .
2 2
c. 1
Use the area model to calculate 5 ––  11 –1– .
2 2

Section D: Square and Unsquare 41

 D Square and Unsquare

Square
To find the area of a square,you can square the side lengths.
For example, if the side length of a square is 5 cm, then the
area is 5 cm  5 cm, or 52 cm2, or 25 cm2.

Unsquare
If you know the area of a square, you can find the side length of the
square by “unsquaring” the area. Unsquaring the area is also
“finding the square root” of the area.
For example:
If the area is 52 m2, then the length of the
side is 
52 m. Using the  button on your
calculator, you find that 
52 ≈7.211. Area  52 m2

You can write the side length ≈ 7.2 m.

Think about how to round your answer!
Side Length  
52 m2
Mixed Numbers
A mixed number is a number that is a sum of a whole number
and a fraction.
For example, 3 –12– is a mixed number because 3 –12–  3  –12– .
You can use the area model to multiply mixed numbers.
3 –1–  8 –1–
2 2
1
8 2

3 1 12
24

1 1
2 4 4

The four parts total 29 –3– (24  4  1 –1–  –1– ).

4 2 4
So 3 –1–  8 –1–  29 –3– .
2 2 4

42 Facts and Factors

 1. a. What is the base in 25? b. What is the exponent in 25?
c. Calculate 25.

2. What are the side lengths of squares with each area given?
a. 1200 in2 b. 120 in2 c. 12 in2
d. 1.2 in2 e. 0.12 in2
f. Compare your answers for a–e. What do you notice?

3. In Springville, streets and avenues form the city –1– mile

8
blocks. The blocks are very regular and look
a lot like a grid. Each city block in Springville
is usually –1– of a mile long.
8
a. What is the area of one city block?
b. Calculate –3–  1 –1–.
8 2

4. Calculate 3 –1–  2 –1– .

2 3

In this pattern, you can see four

squares. Without measuring
or making calculations, what
relationship do you notice
between the red squares?
Find the area and
the side lengths of
each of the four
squares. Compare the
area and the side lengths.
What other relationships
do you notice?

Section D: Square and Unsquare 43

 E
More Powers
The Legend of the Chess Board
Sissa invented the game of chess in India during the 6th century.

Sissa’s ruler was so pleased with the new game that he offered him a
reward in gold.
Sissa asked for a reward in rice and suggested that he collect rice for
64 days (the number of squares on the chess board). Sissa loved
patterns and asked for:
one grain of rice on the first day,
two grains of rice on the second day,
four grains on the third day,
eight grains on the fourth day,
and so on, doubling the number of grains each time.

The ruler was pleased that Sissa requested such a small reward!
1. a. Estimate how many grains of rice Sissa will receive on the
64th day.
b. What would you have to do to calculate the total amount of
rice Sissa plans to collect?
c. What is your opinion of this reward?

44 Facts and Factors

 More Powers E

In the beginning of this unit, you worked with powers of ten.

You wrote repeated factors of ten in exponential notation:
10  10  10  10 is written as 104. You can write numbers with
bases other than 10 using exponential notation. For example,
125 is 5  5  5, so 125  53.
2. Completely factor these numbers into a product of prime numbers.
Write the prime factorization using exponential notation.
a. 8 b. 81 c. 1,024

3. a. Calculate 35.
b. Which number is larger, 32 or 23? Explain why.
c. Which number is larger, 42 or 24? Explain why.

Section E: More Powers 45

 E More Powers

Powers of Two
You can solve the rice problem using powers of two. This table is set
up for the first ten days of the 64 days Sissa will receive rice.

Number of Grains of Rice

Day Each Day Running Sum Running Total

1 1 1

2 21 2 12 3

3 22 4 34 7

4 23 8 78 15

5 24 16

6 25 32

7 26 64

8 27 128

9 28 256

10 29 512

4. a. Describe a pattern in the first two columns.

b. You can write the number of grains of rice for the first day as
a power of two. How? Explain your reasoning.
5. Explain how you can find the answer to the rice problem in 1a if
you use exponential notation.
Use the patterns of the last three columns to help you answer these
questions.
6. a. What is the total number of grains after five days? And after
six days?
b. How many grains will Sissa receive on Day 11?
c. How many grains will Sissa have in total on Day 11? Explain
your work.
d. What is the relationship between the number of grains per day
and the total number of grains?

46 Facts and Factors

 More Powers E

On Day 19, Sissa will get 262,144 grains.

7. a. Write this number as a power of two.
b. On Day 19, how many grains will he have in total? Explain.
c. Write your answer to b using powers of two.

Five students used powers of two to write the total number of grains
after 64 days.
Here is their work.

20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + ...... + 263

Ali

263 – 1 + 263 264

Bea Cici

2  263 – 1 264 – 1

Deron Eva

8. For each student, explain whether the work is right or wrong.

Section E: More Powers 47

 E More Powers

Powers of Three
Powers of Three
This table can be used to find products of powers of 3.
31 3
243  729  177,147
32 9
33 27
34 81 33333 333333
35 243
9. Explain how you can use this table to verify that
36 729
the product of 243  729 is 177,147.
37 2,187
38 6,561 10. Use the table to calculate:
39 19,683 a. 9  243
310 59,049 b. 6,561  6,561
3 177,147 c. 3  19,683
11

312 531,441
313 1,594,323 11. a. Write a rule for multiplying with powers of
three.
314 4,782,969
315 14,348,907 b. Does your rule apply to powers of ten?
Illustrate this with an example.
316 43,046,721
c. Calculate 52  103. Does your rule work in this
317 129,140,163
case? Why or why not?
318
319
320

Different Bases
In Section C, you used two different ways to factor a
number completely into a product of prime factors.
324
2 12. a. Write the prime factorization of 324.
162 324
2 b. What are the two different prime factors of 324?
...
c. Kathie finds the prime factors of 288 and writes
288  25  32. Explain what she did.
d. Write your answer to a as a product of powers,
using two different prime factors.

48 Facts and Factors

 More Powers E

The prime factorization of 400 is 2  5  2  5  2  2.

You can write the prime factorization of 400 as a product of powers.
Using the prime factors 2 and 5, the prime factorization of 400 is 24  52.
13. Write the prime factorization of each number. If possible, use
exponential notation to write each factorization as a product of
powers.
a. 216 b. 6,125 c. 1,000

Joshua, Brenda, Veronique, and Pete calculated 10  23. Here is

their work.

10 x 23 = 10 x 2 3 = 10 X 23 = 101 x 23 =
20 3 = 8,000 10 x 6 = 60 10 X 8 = 80 20 4 = 160,000

Joshua Brenda Veronique Pete

14. For each student, explain whether the work is right or wrong.

Kian has ten cubes, each with the dimensions 2 cm by 2 cm by 2 cm.

15. a. What is the total volume of all ten of Kian’s cubes?

b. How does problem 15a relate to problem 14?

16. a. Calculate 5  43.

b. Calculate 32  103.
c. Write a rule for multiplying with powers with different bases.

Section E: More Powers 49

 E More Powers

Back to the Egyptians

You began this unit by investigating
the Egyptian number system. Now
you will investigate calculations
they invented years ago, which we
still use today in our world with
calculators, computers, and CDs.
Osiris is an Egyptian farmer. He is
able to harvest 75 kg of rice per day.

17. a. Use a ratio table to find out how much he will harvest after
12 days.
b. Write a multiplication problem that would solve this problem.
Perform the calculation.

The Egyptians used a special doubling Here is a similar strategy you

method to multiply. probably recognize.
Ratio table example:
13  51
1 2 4 8 13
1✓ 51 51 102 204 408 663
2 102
4✓ 204
8✓ 408
663

18. a. Describe each step made in the ratio table.

b. Compare and contrast both strategies.
c. How can you find 11  51 using the calculations above?
d. Use the Egyptian doubling method to calculate 18  51.

50 Facts and Factors

 More Powers E

Both the Egyptian method and the ratio table method show how you
can write the number 13 as a sum of different powers of two. Since
13  1  4  8, you can write 13 as a sum of powers of two:
13  20  22  23.
19. a. Use your answer to problem 18c to write the number 11 as a
sum of powers of two.
b. Use your answer to problem 18d to write the number 18 as a
sum of powers of two.

You can write any whole number as a sum of powers of two. To find
these powers of two, you can use a table. Any power of two is not
used more than once.The target number is located in the upper
left-hand position of the table.

5 12
24 23 22 21 20 24 23 22 21 20
1 0 1 1 1 0 0

20. a. Explain what information these two schemas display.

b. Use Student Activity Sheet 6 to write all the whole numbers
from 1 through 15 as a sum of powers of two.

You just rewrote fifteen numbers of the decimal system (base 10) into
a binary system (base 2).
The number 5 written in the binary system is 101, read as “one, zero,
one.” The number 12 written in the binary system is 1100. The binary
system uses only two digits: 0 and 1. The prefix “bi” in binary means
two.

Here is a special binary clock with little blue lights

shining to display the current time. Each light is
either on (1) or off (0).
21. a. The third column shows the number 4.
How would you explain this to someone?
b. What time does the clock show now?
Show your work.

Section E: More Powers 51

 E More Powers

Products of Powers
You can completely factor any number into a product of prime
factors. Sometimes, when the factors repeat, you can write this
number as a product of powers. For example:
5,625  3  3  5  5  5  5
 32  54
You can combine a product of powers with the same base into
one base and power. For example:

32  33  35

23
3  3  3  3  3  35

If you want to calculate a product of powers with different bases, then

you have to calculate the powers first and then multiply. There are not
any shortcuts because the bases are different. For example:
53  102
125  100, which is 12,500

The Binary System

The binary system is based on powers of two. There are only two
digits in the binary system, 0 and 1. To write a number in the binary
system, you only need to write the number as a sum of powers of 2.
For example:
5
24 23 22 21 20
1 0 1

5 4  1
 2 
2 20
 2 0
2  20
 1  22 + 0  21 + 1  20

In the binary system, you can write 5 as 1012 (read as “one, zero, one,
base 2.)

52 Facts and Factors

 1. Write 10,000 as a product of powers.

2. Write the prime factorization of each number. If possible, use

exponential notation to write each factorization as a product of
powers.
a. 288 b. 900 c. 1764

3. Calculate 23  52.

4. Use the table with powers of three Powers of Three

to calculate:
31 3
a. 27  81 32 9
b. 2187  3 33 27
c. 1  3  9  27  81 34 81
d. 94 35 243
36 729
37 2,187
38 6,561
39 19,683
310 59,049

Compare our decimal numbers to binary numbers. Why do you think

we use base ten rather than base two? Be specific.

Section E: More Powers 53

 Additional Practice

Section A Base Ten

1. a. About how old is a person who is a million seconds old?
b. About how old is a person who is a billion seconds old?
Explain your strategy for calculating the answer.
c. What happened about a million days ago? Explain how you
found your answer.

On a transatlantic flight, the speed of an airplane is about 1,000 km

per hour. If it were possible, a plane traveling at this speed would
need 16 days to fly to the moon.
2. Use this information to calculate the distance from the earth to
the moon.

The distance from the earth to the sun is about 400 times the distance
between the earth and the moon.
3. a. How many days would that same plane need to fly from the
earth to the sun?
b. What is the distance between the earth and the sun (in km)?
Write your answer in scientific notation and as a single number.
4. Which one of the following is the largest number? Explain you
reasoning.

0.4  1011 40  108 400  106

Section B Factors
1. What is the smallest natural number that has exactly five factors?
Explain how you found it.

54 Facts and Factors

 You cannot view the last digit of this 11-digit number.

84 355 216 015

2. What digit can you place in the open position to have a number:
a. divisible by 5?
b. divisible by 2 and 5?
c. divisible by 9 but not by 2?
d. divisible by 2 and 3?

You can write the number 10,000 as a product of two numbers in many
different ways. Here are two different ways: 10,000  1,000  10 and
10,000  400  25.
3. Write 10,000 as a product of three numbers, so that none of the
numbers is divisible by ten. Find two different possibilities.

In 1845, Bertrand conjectured:

“For every whole number greater than three, there is at least one
prime between that number and its double.”

4. Verify Bertrand’s conjecture by

Joseph Bertrand was a French
mathematician interested in prime
checking all the appropriate
numbers, geometry, and probability. numbers less than 21. Organize
In 1855, he translated Gauss’ s work your work so that someone
on error analysis into French. In 1856, else can understand Bertrand’s
he was appointed as a professor at conjecture.
the École Polytechnique. Later he also
became a professor at the Collège de
France. From 1874 until the end of his
1822–1900 life, he was a distinguished member
of the Paris Academy of Sciences.

Additional Practice 55
 Additional Practice

Section C Prime Numbers

In 1742, the Russian mathematician Christian Goldbach conjectured:
“Every even integer larger than two can be written as the sum
of two prime numbers.”
For example, 8 = 5 + 3.
Goldbach’s conjecture has been tested for all values up to 1014, but no
one has been able to prove it yet!
1. a. You can write the even number 6 as 6  3  3 or 6  1  5.
One of these sums doesn’t verify Goldbach’s conjecture.
Which one? Why?
b. You can verify Goldbach’s conjecture for 28 with the sum
28  23  5. Is this the only possibility? Investigate other
possibilities.
c. Verify Goldbach’s conjecture by checking all the even
numbers less than 21. Organize your work so someone else
can understand Goldbach’s conjecture.

2. Place the eight numbers, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 on

the eight vertices of the 3-D shape so that the sum
of any two adjacent vertices is a prime number.
Adjacent vertices are physically connected.

A prime day is when both the month and

the day are prime numbers. For example,
May 23 is a prime day because both
(5 and 23) are prime numbers.
3. a. What is the first prime day of the
year? And the last one?
b. How many prime days are there in a year?
4. Completely factor each of the following numbers into a product of
primes.
a. 900 b. 2,079 c. 12,121

56 Facts and Factors

 Additional Practice

Section D Square and Unsquare

1
7 2 1. a. Explain how you can use the area model in
this drawing to calculate (7 –12– )2.
b. Use graph paper to copy this drawing and
fill in all the missing information.
? ? c. Calculate (7 –12– )2.
7

2. Choose a strategy to calculate:

a. (12 –1– )2
2
b. 1
(21 –– )2
2
1
2 ? ?

Here are two squares and two rectangles. The

64 cm2 number on each shape is the area of that shape.
You can use all four shapes to form one large
square.
24 cm2
3. a. What is the side length of the large square?
Show your work and make a sketch of the
large square.
9 cm2
b. Suppose you could reshape the two identical
rectangles to form a large square. What is
the area of this square? What is the length
24 cm2 of one side?

In this drawing, the dark yellow shapes

are squares.
The area of each square is indicated. 121 cm2

4. Explain how the total area of all

of the shapes is a square number.
16 cm2

9
cm2

Additional Practice 57
 Additional Practice

Section E More Powers

Three of these statements are true and three are false.
a. 43  82  4  4  4  8  8 b. (6 –1– )2  36 –1–
2 2
c. (11 –1– )2  (11 –1– )3  (11 –1– )5 d. 26  25  230
2 2 2
e. 54  24  108 f. 34  9  36

1. Try to decide which are true and which are false without
calculations. Explain your reasoning.

2. Completely factor the following numbers into a product of prime

numbers:
a. 10 b. 26 c. 77 d. 50

During math class, Mr. Shawn asked Peter, “How many different
rectangles can you make that have an area of 26 square inches?”
Peter quickly answered, ”If the sides are the counting numbers, then
there are four possibilities.”
3. a. Which possibilities did Peter think of? Can you explain how
Peter was able to answer so quickly?
b. How many possible rectangles can you make with areas of
10 in2 and 77 in2, respectively? Explain how you can quickly
find all possibilities.
c. Consider all the possible rectangles with an area of 50 in2.
Did you find all the possible rectangles quickly? Explain why
or why not.

In communications, electronics, and physics, a kilo stands for 103.

For example, 1 kilometer = 103 meters or 1,000 meters.
In Information Technology (IT) and data storage, a kilo stands for 210.
For example, 1 kilobyte = 210 bytes.

58 Facts and Factors

 Additional Practice

This table explains the prefixes kilo, mega, and giga.

IT Terminology
one kilobyte 1 kB  210 bytes
one megabyte 1 mB 220 bytes
one gigabyte 1 gB  ..... bytes

4. a. Calculate how many bytes are in one kilobyte. Estimate your

answer using a power of ten.
b. How many bytes are in one megabyte? Write your answer in
scientific notation. Estimate your answer using a power of ten.
(You may want to use a calculator for this.)
c. How many kilobytes are in one megabyte? How do you know?

The relationship between kilobytes and megabytes holds true for

megabytes and gigabytes. One gigabyte is more than 1,000 times
one megabyte.
d. How many bytes are in one gigabyte? Write your answer as a
power of two.

5. In problem 21 of Section E, you learned how to read a binary

clock. Sketch a binary clock and color the lights so the time
displayed is 3:12 P.M.

Additional Practice 59
Section A Base Ten
1. a. 1,000  10  10  100,000
b. 1,000  1,000  1,000,000
c. 63.7  10  637
d. 63.7  100  6,370
e. 0.58  1,000  580

2. a. Here are five sample products of one billion.

1,000  1,000,000
1,000  1,000  1,000
10  10  10  10  10  10  10  10  10
10  100,000,000
100  10,000,000
You might have others; check with a classmate to make sure
the product is 1,000,000,000.

b. Here are five sample products for 2,270,000.

2,270  1,000
22.7  100,000
227  10,000
227  100  100
227  10  1,000
You might have others; check with a classmate to make sure
the product is 2,270,000.
7
3. a. 10 or 10,000,000, or ten million
10
b. 10 or 10,000,000,000 or ten billion
6
c. 10 or 1,000,000 or one million
(10  100  1,000  101  102  103)
9
d. 10 or 1,000,000,000 or one billion
(1,000,000  10,000  106  104)
(1,000  1,000,000  103  106)

4. a. 2.25104 ➞ 22.5103 ➞ 225102 ➞ 2,25010 ➞ 22,500

b. Check the work of the classmate who solved your problem.

60 Facts and Factors

 Answers to Check Your Work

5. a. Both calculators display 5.1 and 06; 5.1 is the first factor
between 1 and 10; 06 is the exponent of 10. The difference is
the second display uses an E to designate the exponent of ten;
the first one displays the exponent of ten as a small number in
the upper right corner.
b. 5.1  10 or 5.1 million or 5,100,000
6

Section B Factors
1. Yes, groups of three work because the sum of the digits of 945
is 18: 9  4  5  18, and 18 is divisible by 3.

No, groups of six will not work. “Divisible by 6” means that the
number 945 has to be divisible by 3 and by 2. Because 945 is not
an even number, it is not divisible by 2, so it is not divisible by 6.
2. a. 1, 3, 5, and 15
b. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32
c. 1 and 53
d. 1 and 17

3. a. The number you wrote can be even or odd but must not be
a perfect square number. One sample number that has an
even number of factors is 20; the factors of 20 are 1, 2, 4, 5,
10, and 20.
b. The number you wrote must be any perfect square number.
Sample numbers with an odd number of factors are 25 or 100.
c. A perfect square number will always have an odd number of
factors.

4. There are 10 perfect square numbers from 1 through 100: 1, 4, 9,

16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, and 100.

Answers to Check Your Work 61

 Answers to Check Your Work

Section C Prime Numbers

1. There are many ways to calculate with an arithmetic tree. In all
cases, your final answer is 1,400.

Here are two different ways:

5 7 4 5 2 5 7 4 5 2

   
35 20 20 10


700 
200

1,400 
1,400

2. The numbers 12, 39, and 51 are all composite numbers.

Sample reasoning:
Prime numbers have exactly two factors, 1 and itself. Composite
numbers are numbers larger than one that are not prime. One
way to find out whether or not a number is a composite number
is to use the rules for divisibility.
12 is an even number, so it is divisible by 2 and has more factors
than 1 and 12.
19  1  19; 19 has no other factors than 1 and 19, so 19 is prime.
39  3  13, so 39 has more factors than 1 and 39.
51 is divisible by 3 because the sum of the digits is 6, and 6 is
divisible by 3, so 51 has more factors than 1 and 51.

62 Facts and Factors

 Answers to Check Your Work

3. a. 99  3  3  11 b. 750  2  3  5  5  5

99  9  11 750

 (3  3)  11
10  75
 3  3  11
2  5 3  25

5  5

c. 264  2  2  2  3  11

264
2
132
2
66
2
33
3
11
11
1

4. A strategy to solve these problems is to find all factors of the

number of centimeter cubes first.
a. The factors of 8 are: 1, 2, 4, and 8.
Three possible dimensions are:
1 cm by 1 cm by 8 cm,
1 cm by 2 cm by 4 cm, and
2 cm by 2 cm by 2 cm.
b. The factors of 50 are: 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, and 50.
Three possible dimensions are:
1 cm by 2 cm by 25 cm,
1 cm by 5 cm by 10 cm, and
2 cm by 5 cm by 5 cm.

Answers to Check Your Work 63

 Answers to Check Your Work

Section D Square and Unsquare

1. a. The base is 2.
b. The exponent is 5.
c. 25  2  2  2  2  2  32

2. a. The side length is  ≈ 34.64 in.

1200
b. The side length is 
 ≈ 10.95 in.
120
c. The side length is 
12 ≈ 3.46 in.
d. The side length is 
1.2 ≈ 1.095 in., or 1.10 in.
e. The side length is  ≈ 0.364 in., or 0.35 in.
0.12
f. If the area is 100 times as small, then the side length is ten
times as small. Compare, for example, a and c or c and e.

one city block

1 square mile.
3. a. The area of one city block is ––
64
Sample reasoning:
One city block is –1– mile by –1– mile.
8 8
1 square mile 1 mile In one square mile (see drawing), you can fit
eight rows of eight city blocks. This makes
8 rows  8 blocks or 64 blocks.
If 64 city blocks fit in one square mile, then
the area of one city block is 641 of a square
––
mile.
1 mile
b. –3–  1 –1–  –––
36 , or ––
9
8 2 64 16
Here is a way to calculate –3–  1 –1– using city
8 2
blocks.
1 12 mile
–3– mile is 3 city blocks.
8

3 mile 1 –1– miles are 12 city blocks (8  4).

8 2
–– 
3 1 –1– is the same as
8 2
3 blocks  12 blocks, or 36 blocks.
1 square mile, 36 city
Since 1 city block is ––
64
blocks is 36
––– square mile.
64

64 Facts and Factors

 Answers to Check Your Work

4. 3 –1–  2 –1–  8 –1– 2

1
3
2 3 6
One sample strategy using the area model:
The four parts total 8 –1– , (6  1 1 –1– ).
6 6 3 6 1

1 1
2 1 6

Section E More Powers

1. Many answers are possible. Here are three samples:

10,000  24  54
10,000  102  102
10,000  22  52  102

Make sure you use a product of powers; 10,000  104 is one

power and not a product of powers.

2. a. 288  2 2  2  2  2  3  3
 25  32

b. 900  2  2  3  3  5  5
 22  32  52

c. 1764  2  2  3  3  7  7
 22  32  72

3. 23  52  2  2  2  5  5
 200

4. a. 27  81 2,187
Explanation:
You can use the table to find 27  33 and 81  34
27  81  33  34
 37
In the table, 37  2,187.

Answers to Check Your Work 65

 Answers to Check Your Work

b. 2,187  3  6,561
Explanation:
You can use the table to find 2,187  37 and 3  31.
2,187  3  37  31
 38
In the table, 38  6,561.

c. 1  3  9  27  81  59,049
Explanation:
You can use the table to find
1  30; 3  31; 9  32; 27  33 and 81  34.
1  3  9  27  81  30  31  32  33  34
 310
In the table, 310  59,049.

d. 38  6,561
Explanation:
94  9  9  9  9
 32  32  32  32
 38
In the table, 38  6,561.

66 Facts and Factors