Kaplan Nursing Entrance Practice Exam

To determine the sum of the prime factors of the number 36, we first need to identify the prime factors. The number 36 can be factored into its prime components.

Starting with 36, we can divide by the smallest prime number, which is 2:

36 ÷ 2 = 18 (which means 2 is a prime factor).

Continuing with 18, we can again divide by 2:

18 ÷ 2 = 9 (so we have two occurrences of the prime factor 2).

Now, for 9, we divide by the next smallest prime, which is 3:

9 ÷ 3 = 3 (this indicates that 3 is also a prime factor).

Finally, 3 ÷ 3 = 1.

The complete prime factorization of 36 is:

\( 36 = 2^2 \times 3^2 \).

Now, the unique prime factors in this factorization are 2 and 3.

Next, we calculate the sum of these unique prime factors:

2 + 3 = 5.

Since the answer to the sum of the prime factors should only include unique factors, the correct approach concludes that the unique