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Introduction to

Factorization
The Greatest Common Divisor (GCD), also known as the Highest Common Factor (HCF), is the biggest number that can divide two or more numbers. In this tutorial, we will consider the concept of factors, or divisors. We will then discuss prime numbers, and how to express a number that is not a prime number as a product of prime numbers. Finally, we will consider the concept of common factors, and most importantly, how to find the HCF of two or more numbers. However, in order to gain mastery of the methods presented here, practice questions are provided at the end of every section.

Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Factors Factorization Prime Numbers Prime Factors Prime Factorization Common Factors Highest Common Factors Answers to Exercise Questions 1 3 7 10 13 18 19 22

1.

Factors

Division of one whole number by another is a very familiar arithmetic operation. When dividing one whole number by another whole number, another whole number could be the result. For instance, 5 divides 40 eight times exactly. (Or, 40 = 5 8) Also, 4 divides 40 ten times exactly. (Or, 40 = 4 10)

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Since 5 and 4 divide 40 exactly, without leaving remainders, both of them are called Factors, or Divisors, of 40. However, 6 is not a factor of 40 because 40 6 = 6 times and 4 remainders For the same reason, 11 is also not a factor of 40, because 40 11 = 3 times and 7 remainders
Definition Let x stand for any positive whole number A Factor of x divides x without leaving a remainder. Note 1 can divide every other number without leaving remainders. So 1 is a factor of every number. Note Since every number can divide itself exactly, every number is a factor of itself.

The examples below show how to determine if a number is a factor of another

Example
Say whether 3, 4, and 5 are factors of 24. Give reasons. 3 is a factor of 24 Reason: OR,

24 contains 3 eight times and 0 remainder 24 = 3 8

4 is a factor of 24 Reason: 24 contains 4 six times and 0 remainder OR, 24 = 4 6 5 is not a factor of 24 Reason: 24 contains 5 four times and 4 remainders OR, 24 = (5 4) + 4

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Example
Say whether 10, 14, and 16 are factors of 60. Give reasons. 10 is a factor of 60 Reason: 60 contains 10 six times and 0 remainder OR, 60 = 10 6 14 is not a factor of 60 Reason: 60 contains 14 four times and 4 remainders OR, 60 = (14 4) + 4 16 is not a factor of 60 Reason: 60 contains 16 three times and 12 remainders OR, 60 = (16 3) + 12

Exercise 1
1. Which of these are factors of 75? (i) 2 (ii) 3 (iii) 5 (iv) 15 2. Which of these are NOT factors of 64? (i) 12 (ii) 8 (iii) 18 (iv) 16 3. Say whether 7, 9 and 15 are factors of 45. Give reasons. 4. Say whether 10, 12 and 14 are factors of 70. Give reasons.

2.

Factorization

It is possible to write a positive whole number, say 40, as a product of its factors. For instance, 40 = 8 5 or 5 8 Notice that 5 divides 40 eight times, and 8 divides 40 five times. Writing 40 as 5 8 is called Factoring, or Factorizing, 40 because we have now written 40 as a multiplication of two of its factors. 40 can also be factored, or factorized, in other ways, like 40 = 1 40 or 40 1 40 = 4 10 or 10 4 e.t.c.

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4 Definition To Factorize a whole number means to write that number as a product, or a multiplication, of its factors. Note Saying Factorize a number and Factor a number both mean the same thing.

The examples below show how to determine all the factors of a given number.

Example
Find all the factors of 16. First find all the possible ways you can express 16 as a product of a pair of its factors 1 is a factor of every number, so 16 = Next try 2: 1 16 16 contains 2 eight times

2 is also a factor of 16, 16 = 1 16 2 8

Next try 3: 3 is not a factor of 16 Next try 4: 4 is a factor of 16, 16 contains 4 four times 16 = 1 2 4 16 8 4

Next try 5, then 6, then 7, until you get to 16 16 = 1 2 4 8 16 16 8 4 2 1

(Same as 2 8) (Same as 1 16)

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When we remove the repetitions 2 8 and 8 2, 1 16 and 16 1, We get all the possible ways to factorize 16 as a pair of two factors 16 = 1 16 2 8 4 4
follow the arrow

Hence, all the factors of 16 are: 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16

Example
Find all the factors of 60. Since 1 can divide 60 60 = Next try 2: 1 1 is a factor of 60 60 60 contains 2 thirty times

2 is also a factor of 60, 60 = 1 60 2 30

Next try 3:

3 is also a factor of 60, 60 = 1 60 2 30 3 20

60 contains 3 twenty times

Next try 4

4 is a factor of 60, 60 contains 4 fifteen times 60 = 1 2 3 4 60 30 20 15

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Next try 5

5 is a factor 60 = 1 2 3 4 5

60 contains 5 twelve times 60 30 20 15 12 60 contains 6 ten times 60 30 20 15 12 10

Next try 6

6 is also a factor 60 = 1 2 3 4 5 6

Between 6 and 10, there is no factor of 60. The next factor of 60 is 10, which is already there. After 10, the next factor is 12. You can see that 12 is already there. So we finished all the possibilities. 60 = 1 2 3 4 5 6 60 30 20 15 12 10

follow the arrow

The factors of 60 are

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60.

Exercise 2
Find all the factors of (a) 24 (b) 36 (c) 54 (d) 100

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3.

Prime Numbers
Let us list the numbers from 1 to 15, along with their factors Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Factors 1 1, 2 1, 3 1, 2, 4 1, 5 1, 2, 3, 6 1, 7 1, 2, 4, 8 Number 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Factors 1, 3, 9 1, 2, 5, 10 1, 11 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12 1, 13 1, 2, 7, 14 1, 3, 5, 15

From the above table, we can see that some numbers have only two factors: themselves and 1. This simply means that the only numbers that can divide them are themselves and 1. The first two of such numbers are 2 and 3. Can you locate the others? Right! The rest are 5, 7, 11 and 13. Such numbers are called Prime Numbers
Definition A Prime Number is a number that has only two factors, itself and 1. Note 1 is not a prime number. This is because it has only one factor; itself.

From the table, we can see that we have 6 prime numbers between 1 and 15: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13. If we wanted to get the prime numbers, say up to 100, it would be tedious to get all factors for each number, check if they are only two factors for the number, and conclude that the number is prime number.

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However, there is another more convenient method, called the Sieve of Eratosthenes, which is described below: List the whole numbers from 1 to the number you want to stop at, say 70, or maybe 100 Strike out 1, since it has only one factor: itself. So it is not prime 2 is a prime. Leave it. Strike out every multiple of 2 beginning from 4. (4 = 2 2) The first number not struck out by 2 is 3. So 3 is a prime. Leave it. Strike out every multiple of 3 beginning from 9. (9 = 3 3) The first number not struck out by 3 is 5. So 5 is also a prime. Leave it. Strike out every multiple of 5 beginning from 25. (25 = 5 5) The first number not struck out by 5 is 7. So 7 is a prime. Leave it. Strike out every multiple of 7 beginning from 49. (49 = 7 7) And so on until there are no more numbers to strike out. The remaining numbers are the prime numbers in the range of numbers you chose. The example below demonstrates how to use this method to find all the prime numbers between 1 and 50.

Example
Use the Sieve of Eratosthenes method of finding prime numbers to find all prime numbers between 1 and 50. List the numbers from 1 to 50 1 2 3 4 5 11 12 13 14 15 21 22 23 24 25 31 32 33 34 35 41 42 43 44 45

6 16 26 36 46

7 17 27 37 47

8 18 28 38 48

9 19 29 39 49

10 20 30 40 50

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Strike out 1; 1 is not a prime number. (Each number I strike out will be shaded) 1 11 21 31 41 2 12 22 32 42 3 13 23 33 43 4 14 24 34 44 5 15 25 35 45 6 16 26 36 46 7 17 27 37 47 8 18 28 38 48 9 19 29 39 49 10 20 30 40 50

The first prime number is 2. Leave it. Strike out every multiple of 2 starting with 2 2=4 1 11 21 31 41 2 12 22 32 42 3 13 23 33 43 4 14 24 34 44 5 15 25 35 45 6 16 26 36 46 7 17 27 37 47 8 18 28 38 48 9 19 29 39 49 10 20 30 40 50

3 is the first whole number that is not a multiple of 2. So it is prime, leave it. But strike out every multiple of 3 starting with 3 3 = 9 1 11 21 31 41 2 12 22 32 42 3 13 23 33 43 4 14 24 34 44 5 15 25 35 45 6 16 26 36 46 7 17 27 37 47 8 18 28 38 48 9 19 29 39 49 10 20 30 40 50

5 is the first whole number that was not struck out by 3. So 5 is prime. Strike out every multiple of 5 starting with 5 5 = 25 1 11 21 31 41 2 12 22 32 42 3 13 23 33 43 4 14 24 34 44 5 15 25 35 45 6 16 26 36 46 7 17 27 37 47 8 18 28 38 48 9 19 29 39 49 10 20 30 40 50

The next prime number is 7 (2, 3 or 5 did not succeed in striking it out)

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Strike out all multiples of 7 starting from 7 7 = 49 1 11 21 31 41 2 12 22 32 42 3 13 23 33 43 4 14 24 34 44 5 15 25 35 45 6 16 26 36 46 7 17 27 37 47 8 18 28 38 48 9 19 29 39 49 10 20 30 40 50

The next prime number is 11, (For the same reasons as before). 11 11 = 121 is not in the grid. So we can stop. The remaining numbers are the prime numbers between 1 and 50: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, and 47.

Exercise 3
1. In the introduction, the only prime numbers we had were 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13. The example above produced prime numbers up to 47. Try to show that the extra numbers produced are prime numbers by finding their factors. 2. Find all the prime numbers between 1 and 100.

4. Prime Factors
If we were to list all the factors of 28, we would get the following six factors: 28 = 1 28 2 14 4 7

That is:

1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 28

Notice that out of the six factors of 28, 2 and 7 are prime numbers. These are the prime factors of 28.

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Also, listing the eight factors of 30, we get 30 = 1 2 3 5 30 15 10 6

That is:

1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30

Here there are also prime numbers: 2, 3 and 5. These are the prime factors of 30
Definition Let x stand for any positive whole number A Prime Factor of x is a prime number which is also a factor of x. Note Not all factors of a number are prime numbers. However, if a factor is also a prime number, it is called a prime factor.

Here are some examples

Example
Find the prime factors of 42. First Work out the factors of 42 Working: 42 = 1 2 3 6 42 21 14 7

The factors of 42: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21 and 42. Then get those factors which are prime numbers Prime factors of 42: 2, 3, 7

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Example
Find the prime factors of 24. First Work out the factors of 24 Working 24 = 1 2 3 4 24 12 8 6

The factors of 24: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24. Prime factors: 2 and 3

Example
Find the prime factors of 75. First Work out the factors of 75 Working 75 = 1 75 3 25 5 15

The factors of 75: 1, 3, 5, 15, 25, 75 Prime factors: 3 and 5

Example
Find the prime factors of 29. 29 is a prime number So, the factors of 29 are just 1 and 29 And the prime factors of 29? Just 29

Exercise 4
Find the prime factors of (a) 20 (b) 37 (c) 50 (d) 91 (e) 120

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5.

Prime Factorization

Every number has one or more prime factors, as seen in the previous section. In other words, for every whole number x, there is at least one prime number that can divide x. What is the implication of this? For example consider 450. Take any pair of factors of 450: 450 = 45 10 Obviously, these are not prime numbers. Try it again for both 45 and 10 45 = 5 9, and 10 = 2 5 For both factors of 45, only 5 is a prime factor. For the pair of factors of 10, both 2 and 5 are prime factors of 10. So 450 = 45 10 = 5 9 2 5 Since 9 is not a prime number, 9 = 3 3 So finally, this is what we get 450 = 45 10 = (5 9) (2 5) = 5 (3 3) 2 5 =53325 We cannot factorize the last expression further because each of them would give something like this 5 3 3 2 5 = (5 1) (3 1) (3 1) (2 1) (5 1) The reason being that each factor in the multiplication is a prime number Notice we now have 450 as a product of prime numbers; 2, 3 and 5. 2, 3 and 5 are prime factors of 450 (check this as an exercise)

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But a natural question might arise: If I were to find all the factors of 450, I get more than one product 450 = 1 2 3 5 6 9 10 15 18 450 225 150 90 75 50 45 30 25

Is there also more than one way to write 450 as a product of its prime factors? To find out, let us carry out a little experiment 450 = 45 10 = (5 9) (2 5) = 5 (3 3) 2 5 = 5 3 3 2 5 450 = 9 50 = (3 3) (5 10) = 3 3 5 (2 5) = 3 3 5 2 5 450 = 18 25 = (2 9) (5 5) = 2 (3 3) 5 5 = 2 3 3 5 5 450 = 3 150 = 3 10 15 = 3 (2 5) (3 5) = 3 2 5 3 5

Notice that no matter which product we started with, the final product of prime factors is always a rearrangement of the product 2 3 3 5 5 This is actually a result in Mathematics called The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic.
The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic Stated informally; if a whole number x is not a prime number, we can always write it as a product of prime numbers in only one way (if we ignore any rearrangement of the factors). The product would contain only the prime factors of x.

The following examples will illustrate this.

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Example
Express 180 as a product of its prime factors. 180 = 2 90 = 2 2 45 = 2 2 3 15 =22335

Example
Express 550 as a product of its prime factors. 550 = 2 275 = 2 5 55 = 2 5 5 11 Alternatively, we could use short division repeatedly to solve each of the above problems. This method is also called Trial Division. Trial Division requires knowledge of the prime numbers. The next set of examples shows how to use trial division to arrive at a prime factorization of whole numbers.

Example
Write 180 as a product of its prime factors using trial division. Try dividing 180 by the first prime number, 2. Since 2 is a prime factor of 180, we have 2 180 90 Try dividing 90 by 2 again 2 2 180 90 45

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2 is not a factor of 45. Then try 45 divided by the next prime number 3. Since 3 is a prime factor of 45, we have 2 2 3 180 90 45 15

Now we have 15. If we try 3 again, 3 can still divide 15. 2 2 3 3 180 90 45 15 5

The only number that can divide 5 is 5. (Remember, 5 is a prime number) So divide by 5 to complete the process 2 2 3 3 5 180 90 45 15 5 1 2 2 3 3 5 = 180

Example
Express 550 as a product of its prime factors. For 550, the only prime numbers that will divide are 2, 5, and 11 (the prime factors of 550) First try 2: 2 550 275

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Try 5: 2 550 5 275 55 Try 5 again: 2 550 5 275 5 55 11 Finally, try 11: 2 550 5 275 5 55 11 11 1 2 5 5 11 = 550

Example
Use Trial division to find the prime factorization of 600. 2 600 2 300 2 150 3 75 5 25 5 5 1

600 = 2 2 2 3 5 5

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Example
Use Trial division to find the prime factorization of 588. 2 588 2 294 3 147 7 49 7 7 1

588 = 2 2 3 7 7

Exercise 5
Write the following numbers as a product of their respective prime factors (b) 20 (b) 30 (c) 12 (d) 66 (e) 78

6. Common Factors
In the previous sections, we discussed how to find the factors of a single whole number. So, if a number divides x without leaving a remainder, that number is a factor of x. For example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 are all factors of 12 because they divide 12 without leaving a remainder. Now to something slightly different: Factors common to two or more numbers. Say, you are given two numbers 12 and 18. Of course 1 can divide both 12 and 18. So 1 is a common factor of 12 and 18. We also have 2 as a common factor of 12 and 18. Actually, all the common factors of 12 and 18 are 1, 2, 3, and 6.
Definition A Common Factor of two or more numbers divides the two numbers without leaving any remainders.

The following examples show how to find all the Common factors of two or more numbers.

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Example
Get all the common factors of 18 and 24. Factors of 18: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18 Factors of 24: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 Common factors of 16 and 18: 1, 2, 3, 6

Example
Get all the common factors of 16, 24, and 40. Factors of 16: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 Factors of 24: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 Factors of 40: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40 Common factors of 16, 24, 40: 1, 2, 4, 8

Exercise 6
List all the common factors of the following (a) 18 and 27 (b) 12 and 30 (c) 15, 24, and 33

7.

Highest Common Factors

Consider the following example Factors of 30: Factors of 45: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 45

Common factors of 30 and 45: 1, 3, 5, 15 Four factors are common to 30 and 45. But 15 is the largest number that can divide both 30 and 45. So 15 is said to be the highest common factor of 30 and 45.
Definition The Highest Common Factor of two numbers is the largest whole number that is a common factor of the two numbers.

But the above method for finding the HCF of 30 and 45 is a little bit tedious. It is possible to use the prime factorization method to find the HCF of 30 and 45. The following examples will illustrate this.

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Example
Use the prime factorization method to find the HCF of 30 and 45 In this method, first express 30 and 45 each as products of their prime factors. Next, carefully observe which smaller product in 30 is the same with a smaller product in 45. The smaller product will be equal to the HCF of 30 and 45. 2 30 3 15 5 5 1 3 45 3 15 5 5 1
45 = 3 3 5

30 = 2 3 5 HCF = 3 5 = 15

Example
Find the HCF of 16 and 28. 16 = 2 2 2 2 28 = 2 2 7 HCF = 2 2 = 4

Example
Find the HCF of 12, 18, and 30. 12 = 2 2 3 18 = 2 3 3 30 = 2 3 5 HCF = 2 3 = 6

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Example
Find the HCF of 20 and 21. 20 = 2 2 5 21 = 3 7 HCF = (Hmnh nothing) just say 1 Why? Lets verify using the long method Factors of 20: 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20 Factors of 21: 1, 3, 7, 21 Common factors of 20 and 21: 1 The HCF: 1

Exercise 7
Find the HCF of the following (a) 28 and 70 (b) 24 and 36 (c) 27 and 90 (d) 156, 117 and 195

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Answers to Exercise Questions

Exercise 1 (a) 3, 5 and 15 are factors of 75 because 75 = 3 25 75 = 5 15 75 = 15 5 (b) 12 is NOT a factor of 64 because it leaves 4 remainders when dividing 64. 18 is also NOT a factor of 64 because it leaves 10 remainders after dividing 64. (c) 7 is not a factor of 45 Reason: 45 contains 7 six times and 3 remainder OR, 45 = (7 6) + 3 9 is a factor of 45 Reason: 45 contains 9 five times and 0 remainders OR, 45 = 9 5 15 is a factor of 45 Reason: 45 contains 15 three times and 0 remainders OR, 45 = 15 3 (d) 10 is a factor of 70 Reason: 70 contains 10 seven times and 0 remainder OR, 70 = 10 7 12 is not a factor of 70 Reason: 70 contains 12 five times and 10 remainders OR, 70 = (12 5) + 10 14 is a factor of 70 Reason: 70 contains 14 five times and 0 remainders OR, 70 = 14 5

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Exercise 2 (a) Factors of 24 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24 (b) Factors of 36 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 36 (c) Factors of 54 = 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18, 27 and 54 (d) Factors of 100 = 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 and 100 Exercise 3
(2) 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 and 97.

Exercise 4 (a) Prime Factors of 20 = 2 and 5. (b) Prime Factors of 37 = 37 only. (c) Prime Factors of 50 = 2 and 5. (d) Prime Factors of 91 = 7 and 13. (e) Prime Factors of 120 = 2, 3 and 5. Exercise 5 (a) 20 = 2 2 5 (b) 30 = 2 3 5 (c) 12 = 2 2 3 (d) 66 = 2 3 11 (e) 78 = 2 3 13 Exercise 6 (a) Common Factors of 18 and 27 = 1, 3 and 9 (b) Common Factors of 12 and 30 = 1, 2, 3 and 6 (c) Common Factors of 15, 24 and 33 = 1 and 3 Exercise 7 (a) HCF of 28 and 70 = 2 7 = 14 (b) HCF of 24 and 36 = 2 2 3 = 12 (c) HCF of 27 and 90 = 3 3 = 9 (d) HCF of 156, 117 and 195 = 3 13 = 39

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