Roots Using Prime Factors
Roots Using Prime Factors
2. Find the prime factorisation of these integers. Are they all square numbers? Find the
square root of any that are.
a) 484 b) 324 c) 1024 d) 676 e) 1296
3. Find the smallest additional factor so that the expressions below generate perfect
squares.
a) 2 × 3 × 3 × … b) 5 × 5 × 5 × 3 × 3 × … c) 135 × …
d) 33 × 75 × … e) 𝑝2 × 𝑞 × … f) 𝑝2𝑛+1 × …
(where 𝑛 is an integer)
4. Find the smallest number by which 1008 must be multiplied by to get a perfect square.
What is the square root of this perfect square?
5. Without calculating the product, which of these are square numbers? Explain how you
know.
a) 16 × 4 b) 8 × 32 c) 45 × 5
d) 7 × 7 × 14 × 2 e) 11 × 22 × 8 f) 𝑝2 × 𝑞 𝑛 × 𝑞 𝑛
(where 𝑛 is an integer)
7. One of the numbers in question 6 is a sqube number, i.e. it is both a square number
and a cube number.
a) How would you recognise a sqube number from its prime factorisation?
b) Calculate the first two sqube numbers. How many more can you easily write
down?
Answers
1. a) 36 = 22 × 32 (square)
b) 100 = 22 × 52 (square)
c) 144 = 24 × 32 (square)
d) 252 = 22 × 32 × 7 (not square) A square number has an even power for each
e) 196 = 22 × 72 (square) of its factors.
3. a) 2×3×3×2
b) 5×5×5×3×3×3
c) 135 × 13
d) 33 × 75 × 3 × 7 = 33 × 75 × 21
e) 𝑝2 × 𝑞 × 𝑞
f) 𝑝2𝑛+1 × 𝑝
7. a) The prime factorisation of a sqube will have all its powers as multiples of 6.
b) The first five squbes are 16 = 1, 26 = 64, 36 = 729, 46 = 4096, 56 = 15625.
One easy other sqube is 106 = 1 000 000.