Find the square root of 56 using prime factorization. Make sure your response is a square root.

1 answer

To find the square root of 56 using prime factorization, we first need to factor 56 into its prime components.

  1. Start by dividing 56 by the smallest prime number, which is 2: \[ 56 \div 2 = 28 \]
  2. Continue factoring 28: \[ 28 \div 2 = 14 \]
  3. Factor 14: \[ 14 \div 2 = 7 \]
  4. Since 7 is a prime number, we stop here.

Now, we can express 56 as a product of its prime factors: \[ 56 = 2^3 \times 7^1 \]

Next, we find the square root: \[ \sqrt{56} = \sqrt{2^3 \times 7^1} \]

Using the property of square roots: \[ \sqrt{a \times b} = \sqrt{a} \times \sqrt{b} \]

We can break this down: \[ \sqrt{56} = \sqrt{2^2 \times 2^1 \times 7^1} = \sqrt{(2^2)} \times \sqrt{(2^1)} \times \sqrt{(7^1)} \]

Calculating separately: \[ \sqrt{2^2} = 2, \] \[ \sqrt{2^1} = \sqrt{2}, \] \[ \sqrt{7^1} = \sqrt{7} \]

Putting this all together: \[ \sqrt{56} = 2 \times \sqrt{2} \times \sqrt{7} = 2\sqrt{14} \]

Thus, the square root of 56 using prime factorization is: \[ \sqrt{56} = 2\sqrt{14} \]