Lot - Description: What is a name for the process that would lead me to express a number (give actual number in your response) as 2^3 x 3^2 x 5^1, and why is that process important in cryptography? Answer this correctly through offer comment, sMail, [thread] or profile comment, and get the item for FREE!

Gossamer's correct answer:

Prime factorization

The number 360 is factorized down to

360 72 * 5 8 * 9 | 5 4 * 2 | 3 * 3 | 5 2 * 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5

Or written as 2^3 x 3^2 x 5(^1)

Because this takes longer with larger numbers, especially with larger primes in the factorization, it is used to create difficult to hack public-key encryptions.

My elaboration:

More specifically, a very large number comprised of two prime numbers would take a very long time even for a super-computer to solve through brute force, attempting every possible combination, hence its utility.