Code Room
CodingMediumcod-g397
Subject PrimesLevel Mid–Senior~25 minCommon in Algorithms & data structures interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

Given an integer n (1 <= n <= 100000), return its prime factorization as a list of [prime, exponent] pairs sorted by ascending prime. For example 360 = 2^3 * 3^2 * 5^1 returns [[2,3],[3,2],[5,1]]. Build a smallest-prime-factor sieve so the factorization itself runs in time proportional to the number of prime factors. For n = 1 return an empty list.

Implement
prime_factorization(n: int) → list[list[int]]
Examples
in[12]out[[2,2],[3,1]]
What a strong answer looks like

State your approach and its time/space complexity out loud before you optimize. Handle the edge cases (empty input, duplicates, overflow), and say why you chose this over the brute force. Green tests are the floor, not the grade.

Vibe coding: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach. Generating runnable code from your description is coming next.

Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.