Q:

What are the Factors of 123?

Accepted Solution

A:
Factors of 123 Methods What are the Factors of 123? The following are the different types of factors of 123: • Factors of 123: 1, 3, 41, 123 • Sum of Factors of 123: 168 • Negative Factors of 123: -1, -3, -41, -123 • Prime Factors of 123: 3, 41 • Prime Factorization of 123: 3^1 × 41^1 There are two ways to find the factors of 123: using factor pairs, and using prime factorization. The Factor Pairs of 123 Factor pairs of 123 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 123. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 123?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 123. To find the factor pairs of 123, follow these steps: Step 1: Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 123. For reference, the first prime numbers to check are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13. In this case, the smallest factor that’s a prime number larger than 1 is 3. Step 2: Divide 123 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 3: 123 ÷ 3 = 41 3 and 41 will make a new factor pair. Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 41 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 41 by that number. In this case, 41 is the new smallest prime factor: 41 ÷ 41 = 1 Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 41, not 123. So, to finish the factor pair for 123, you’d multiply 3 and 41 before pairing with 1: 3 x 41 = 123 Step 4: Repeat this process until there are no longer any prime factors larger than one to divide by. At the end, you should have the full list of factor pairs. Here are all the factor pairs for 123: (1, 123), (3, 41) So, to list all the factors of 123: 1, 3, 41, 123 The negative factors of 123 would be: -1, -3, -41, -123 Prime Factorization of 123 To find the Prime factorization of 123, we break down all the factors of 123 until we are left with only prime factors. We then express n as a product of multiplying the prime factors together. The process of finding the prime factorization of 123 only has a few differences from the above method of finding the factors of 123. Instead of ensuring we find the right factor pairs, we continue to factor each step until we are left with only the list of smallest prime factors greater than 1. Here are the steps for finding the prime factorization of 123: Step 1: Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 123. For reference, the first prime numbers to check are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13. In this case, the smallest factor that’s a prime number larger than 1 is 3. Step 2: Divide 123 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 3 123 ÷ 3 = 41 3 becomes the first number in our prime factorization. Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 41 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 41 by that number. The smallest prime factor you pick for 41 will then be the next prime factor. If you keep repeating this process, there will be a point where there will be no more prime factors left, which leaves you with the prime factors for prime factorization. So, the unique prime factors of 123 are: 3, 41 Find the Factors of Other Numbers Practice your factoring skills by exploring how to factor other numbers, like the ones below: Factors of 34 - The factors of 34 are 1, 2, 17, 34 Factors of 53 - The factors of 53 are 1, 53 Factors of 74 - The factors of 74 are 1, 2, 37, 74 Factors of 76 - The factors of 76 are 1, 2, 4, 19, 38, 76