home > q&a board > algebra thru pre-calculus > topic: finding the factors

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posted by  Anonymous on 10/13/2008 1:50:02 PM  |  status: Live  

finding the factors

Course Textbook Chapter Problem
Precalculus Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus (5th) by Stewart, Redlin, Watson 3.3 3E
Question Details:
how do you know what the factors of a number are?

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posted by BNback on 10/13/2008 1:58:41 PM  |  status: Live
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Factoring is the decomposition of an object (for example, a number, a polynomial, or a matrix) into a product of other objects, or factors, which when multiplied together give the original.

So if you have the number 12 for example then the possible factor combinations are:

1 and 12 because 1*12 =12
2 and 6 because 2*6 =12
3 and 4 because 3*4 = 12

These are all of the possible factors of 12 (notice that they're all integers).  When factoring one always uses integers (whole numbers).
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