[The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic. Prime Factorization]

## Authors: Raskina I.V., Fedumin L.E.

A hunter told a friend that he saw a wolf with a meter-long tail in the forest. That friend told another friend that a wolf with a two-meter-long tail had been seen in the forest. Passing on the news further, ordinary people doubled the length of the tail, while creative people tripled it. As a result, the TV reported about a wolf with a tail 864 meters long. How many ordinary and how many creative people "grew" the wolf's tail?
Each storyteller either doubled or tripled the length of the tail, so 864 is the product of a certain number of twos and threes. Since

$864=2^{5} \cdot 3^{3}$, the wolf's tail was "lengthened" by five ordinary people and three creative individuals.

## Answer

5 ordinary people and 3 creative individuals.