How can you find the prime factors of 32?

32 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2

Prime factor of 32 is 2.

A method of doing this is making a factor tree, in which you divided each factor until it cannot be divided out any more:

32

2 x 16

2 x 2 x 8

2 x 2 x 2 x 4

2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2