Dear Factorers,

Last week I told you that factors are like a number’s fingerprint: they are what make numbers unique. Today, we’re going to see that prime factors are a number’s DNA: they are the building blocks and the blueprint for each number. When we break a number down into its prime factors, we get to the essential core of that number.

Like many things in math, this method of breaking something into its essential parts is useful in all walks of life. I might even argue that it’s one of the main ways us humans have of knowing about the world. When you were first learning to read and you got to a word you didn’t know, your teacher told you to break it into its sounds. When you were first learning about multi-digit numbers, you broke them up by their periods and places. When you’re learning how to do brain surgery in your final year of medical school, you’ll break the brain up into its parts to better understand it.

I don’t want to oversell it, but the ways of thinking you learn in fifth grade will last you a lifetime.

Let’s have of great day,

Mr. Heimbuck