prime-splitting procedure

noun
UK /praɪm ˈsplɪtɪŋ prəˈsiːdʒə/
US /praɪm ˈsplɪtɪŋ prəˈsidʒər/

A step-by-step way to break a number into its prime number pieces.

The teacher showed us a prime-splitting procedure to break 60 into 2, 2, 3, and 5.

SYNONYMS

prime factorization methodprime decomposition processfactor-splitting routineprime-factoring algorithm

RELATED WORDS

factorizationprime numberdivisorfactor treealgorithm

OTHER MEANINGS

2. A routine in cryptography that separates a large number into its prime factors.

The security system relies on a prime-splitting procedure to generate keys.

3. A classroom technique for finding all prime factors of a whole number.

We practiced the prime-splitting procedure on numbers up to 100.

4. A computational method that repeatedly divides a number by its smallest prime factor.

The program uses a prime-splitting procedure to test each integer quickly.