☰ Contents1.2 · The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic23/101

What “unique” means

No matter which path you take down the factor tree, you always land on the sameprimes, the same number of times. We treat 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 and 3 × 7 × 2 × 5 as one and the same — order doesn't count. That uniqueness is the whole theorem.

Check yourself

Quick check
One student factorises 60 as 22 × 3 × 5. Another gets 2 × 5 × 3 × 2. Who is right?