BASIC MATHEMATICS PPISMP BM 1
Factors
A number may be made by multiplying two or more other numbers together. The
numbers that are multiplied together are called factors of the final number. All
numbers have a factor of one since one multiplied by any number equals that
number. All numbers can be divided by themselves to produce the number one.
Therefore, we normally ignore one and the number itself as useful factors.
The number fifteen can be divided into two factors which are three and five.
The number twelve could be divided into two factors which are 6 and 2. Six could
be divided into two further factors of 2 and 3. Therefore the factors of twelve are
2, 2, and 3.
If twelve was first divided into the factors 3 and 4, the four could be divided into
factors of 2 and 2. Therefore the factors of twelve are still 2, 2, and 3.
There are several clues to help determine factors.
Any even number has a factor of two
Any number ending in 5 has a factor of five
Any number above 0 that ends with 0 (such as 10, 30, 1200) has
factors of two and five.
To determine factors see if one of the above rules apply (ends in 5, 0 or an even
number). If none of the rules apply, there still may be factors of 3 or 7 or some
other number.
BASIC MATHEMATICS PPISMP BM 1
Factors & Multiples
In the problem 3 x 4 = 12, 3 and 4 are factors and 12 is the product.
Factoring is like taking a number apart. It means to express a number as the
product of its factors. Factors are either compositenumbers or prime
numbers (except that 0 and 1 are neither prime nor composite).
The number 12 is a multiple of 3, because it can be divided evenly by 3.
3 x 4 = 12
3 and 4 are both factors of 12
12 is a multiple of both 3 and 4.
Click each number below to see factors and multiples.
SHOW FACTORS SHOW MULTIPLES
A factor is simply a number that is multiplied to get a product. Factoring a number
means taking the number apart to find its factors--it's like multiplying in reverse.
Here are lists of all the factors of 16, 20, and 45.
16 --> 1, 2, 4, 8, 16
20 --> 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20
45 --> 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 45
12 --> 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, . . .
5 --> 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, . . .
7 --> 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, . . .
Factors are either composite numbers or prime numbers. A prime number has
only two factors, one and itself, so it cannot be divided evenly by any other
numbers. Here's a list of prime numbers up to 100. You can see that none of
these numbers can be factored any further.
PRIME NUMBERS to 100
2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37,41,43,
47,53,59,61,67,71,73,79,83,89,97
BASIC MATHEMATICS PPISMP BM 1
A composite number is any number that has more than two factors. Here's a list
of composite numbers up to 20. You can see that they can all be factored further.
For example, 4 equals 2 times 2, 6 equals 3 times 2, 8 equals 4 times 2, and so
forth.
By the way, zero and one are considered neither prime nor composite numbers-
they're in a class by themselves!
COMPOSITE NUMBERS up to 20
4,6,8,9,10,12,14,15,16,18,20
You can write any composite number as a product of prime factors. This is called
prime factorization. To find the prime factors of a number, you divide the number
by the smallest possible prime number and work up the list of prime numbers
until the result is itself a prime number. Let's use this method to find the prime
factors of 168. Since 168 is even, we start by dividing it by the smallest prime
number, 2. 168 divided by 2 is 84.
84 divided by 2 is 42. 42 divided by 2 is 21. Since 21 is not divisible by 2, we try
dividing by 3, the next biggest prime number. We find that 21 divided by 3 equals
7, and 7 is a prime number. We know 168 is now fully factored. We simply list the
divisors to write the factors of 168.
168 ÷ 2 = 84
84 ÷ 2 = 42
42 ÷ 2 = 21
21 ÷ 3 = 7 Prime number
prime factors = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 7
To check the answer, multiply these factors and make sure they equal 168.
Here are the prime factors of the composite numbers between 1 and 20.
4=2×2
6=3×2
8=2×2×2
9=3×3
10 = 5 × 2
12 = 3 × 2 × 2
14 = 7 × 2
15 = 5 × 3
16 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2
18 = 3 × 3 × 2
20 = 5 × 2 × 2
BASIC MATHEMATICS PPISMP BM 1
Factors
A whole number that divides exactly into another whole number is called
a factor of that number.
So, 4 is a factor of 20 as it divides exactly into 20.
So, 5 is a factor of 20 as it divides exactly into 20.
Note:
If a number can be expressed as a product of two whole numbers, then the
whole numbers are called factors of that number.
So, the factors of 20 are 1, 2, 4, 5, 10 and 20.
Example 5
List all the factors of 42.
Solution:
So, the factors of 42 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21 and 42.
Note:
BASIC MATHEMATICS PPISMP BM 1
Factors
A number may be made by multiplying two or more other numbers together. The
numbers that are multiplied together are called factors of the final number. All
numbers have a factor of one since one multiplied by any number equals that
number. All numbers can be divided by themselves to produce the number one.
Therefore, we normally ignore one and the number itself as useful factors.
The number fifteen can be divided into two factors which are three and five.
The number twelve could be divided into two factors which are 6 and 2. Six could
be divided into two further factors of 2 and 3. Therefore the factors of twelve are
2, 2, and 3.
If twelve was first divided into the factors 3 and 4, the four could be divided into
factors of 2 and 2. Therefore the factors of twelve are still 2, 2, and 3.
There are several clues to help determine factors.
Any even number has a factor of two
Any number ending in 5 has a factor of five
Any number above 0 that ends with 0 (such as 10, 30, 1200) has
factors of two and five.
To determine factors see if one of the above rules apply (ends in 5, 0 or an even
number). If none of the rules apply, there still may be factors of 3 or 7 or some
other number.
