Alice wants to find all the prime factors of the number you get when you multiply 17•11•13•7. she thinks she has to use a calculator to pay sam although multiplications and then find the prime factorization of the resulting number. do you agree? why or why not?

No. Calculator is not needed.

17, 11, 13, and 7 are all prime numbers. They are already the prime factors of the product.

A prime number is a number that can be divided evenly by 1 or itself.

17 ÷ 1 = 17 ; 17 ÷ 17 = 1  *prime number
11 ÷ 1 = 11 ; 11 ÷ 11 = 1  *prime number
13 ÷ 1 = 13 ; 13 ÷ 13 = 1  *prime number
  7 ÷ 1 =   7 ;   7 ÷   7 = 1  *prime number

Prime factorization is finding which prime numbers multiply together to make the original numbers. Since the prime factors have been given, using a calculator to multiply the prime factors to find the prime factorization is no longer needed.