2.

4 Factors and Multiples

factors

5 x 6 = 30 product

Factors are numbers multiplied to give another number called

their product. How many more pairs of numbers can you give with
a product of 30? The other pairs are 1 x 30, 2 x 15, 3 x 10. 1, 2, 3,
5, 6, 10, 15, and 30 are all factors of 30.

Definition
If a and b are two numbers with a x b = c, then c ÷ a = b and
c ÷ b = a. a and b are called factors or divisors of c, and c is
a multiple of a and b.

1 is a factor or divisor of any number, and any number c is a

factor or divisor of itself as c ÷ c = 1. c is also a multiple of itself.

Examples: 1. What are the factors of 50?

2. What are some multiples of 5? of 6?
3. Is 69 a multiple of 3?

Solutions: 1. 50 = 1 x 50 = 2 x 25 = 5 x 10. The factors of 50 are

1, 2, 5, 10, 25, and 50.

2. Since 1 x 5 = 5, 2 x 5 = 10, 3 x 5 = 15, 4 x 5 = 20, 5,

10, 15, and 20 are some multiples of 5.

Since 1 x 6 = 6, 2 x 6 = 12, 3 x 6 = 18, 4 x 6 = 24, 6,

12, 18, and 24 are some multiples of 6.

3. Since 69 ÷ 3 = 23, 69 is a multiple of 3.

2 = 1 x 2, 3 = 1 x 3, 5 = 1 x 5, 7 = 1 x 7, 11 = 1 x 11,
but 4 = 1 x 4 = 2 x 2, 6 = 1 x 6 = 2 x 3, 9 = 1 x 9
= 3 x 3.

We see that 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11 have only 1 and themselves

as factors while 4, 6, and 9 have factors different from 1 and
themselves.

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 Definition
A prime number, such as 3 or 5, is a number which has only
1 and itself as factors; while a number such as 6 or 9 which has
factors different from 1 and itself is a composite number.

13, 17, 19, 23, 29, and 31 are other examples of prime numbers.
Do you remember the Sieve of Erastosthenes which you must have
used to find the prime numbers less than 100?

12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 are other examples of composite numbers.

Do you remember that all numbers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, and

8 when divided by 2 have exact quotients and are called even
numbers? On the other hand, numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, and
9 leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 2 and are called odd
numbers.

Exercise 2.4

A. Express each number as a product of two or more factors.

1. 16 6. 26 11. 108
2. 15 7. 33 12. 220
3. 20 8. 44 13. 240
4. 27 9. 60 14. 112
5. 36 10. 78 15. 96

B. Give the first 5 multiples of each number.

1. 3 2. 5 3. 7 4. 13 5. 18
6. 17 7. 20 8. 21 9. 30 10. 50

C. The Goldbach conjecture states that each even composite number

can be written as the sum of two prime numbers. This has not been
proven though no one has found any composite even number which
cannot be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers.

Examples: 24 = 13 + 11 = 17 + 7 = 5 + 19
10 = 7 + 3 = 5 + 5
16 = 13 + 3 = 5 + 11
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 1. Write each of the following as the sum of two prime numbers.
Which can be written in more than one way?

a. 8 c. 44 e. 36 g. 28 i. 100
b. 30 d. 12 f. 20 h. 24 j. 84

2. Which of the numbers in number 1 can you write as the sum of

3 prime numbers?

3. Find an even number which is the sum of three prime numbers.

4. Write the following composite odd numbers as the sum of two

primes.

a. 45 c. 25 e. 9 g. 55 i. 91
b. 33 d. 39 f. 85 h. 49 j. 21

Can any of the above be written as the sum of two primes in

more than one way? Explain your answer.

5. Find two composite odd numbers which cannot be written as the

sum of two primes.

D. Try to answer these problems.

1. The green light flashes every 3 seconds, the red, every 5 seconds,
and the white, every 10 seconds. If they flash together at 12
noon sharp, when will they flash together again? How many
times will they flash together in a minute? in an hour?

2. Can you write the common multiples of 3 and 5 without listing

the multiples of each? Without listing, can you give the 2nd or
the 5th common multiple of 3 and 5?

3. Peter and Joe are swimming back and forth in a 100 m pool. Joe
takes 1 12 minutes to swim one lap, while Peter takes 2 minutes.
If they start together from the same end, in how many minutes
will they start again from the same end? (Hint: Consider the time
to swim both directions.)

4. Mary has some cookies to put into plastic bags. If she places 2
in each bag she finds she has 1 cookie left. If she puts 3 or 4 in
each bag, each time she has 1 cookie left. What is the smallest
number of cookies for this to happen?
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