What is the greatest prime factor of

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by Lookingfor700GMAT » Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:48 am
To be clear the stimulus is

4^17-2^28

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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:05 am
rewrite 4^17 as (2^2)^17

This equals 2^34

Now you have to factor 2^34 - 2^28

this equals 2^28 (2^6 - 1)

this equals 2^28 (64-1)

This equals 2^28 (63)

63 broken into prime factors is 3^2 * 7

Therefore, the greatest prime factor is 7
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by Lookingfor700GMAT » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:48 am
Awesome stuff. Thanks!

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by Lookingfor700GMAT » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:07 am
Actually can you explain these steps again please

rewrite 4^17 as (2^2)^17

This equals 2^34

Now you have to factor 2^34 - 2^28

this equals 2^28 (2^6 - 1)