Phoenix Business Daily

factors...?

what is the easiest way to find factors for big numbers(like 144)

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use this calculater http://www.classbrain.com/artteach/publish/article_48.shtml Or use this http://www.math.com/school/subject1/lessons/S1U3L1GL.html and learn
divide by 2 first if it is an even number then you will get the number that is half of the original number from there you can keep doing this and then find the factors that make up 144. for example: 144/2 = 72 72/2= 36 36/2= 18 18/2= 9 9/3 = 3 there you can break down the smaller numbers: 3 x 3 x (equals the 9 including the 3) then, 2 x 9 = 18 which converts to 2 x 3 x 3 then 36 is 18 x 2, so 2x 9 x 2 which is 2 x 3 x 3x 2 then the 72 is 36 x 2= 2 x 4 x 9 which is 2 x 2 x2 x3 x3 so your full equation would be : 3 x 3 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x3 x 3 which is completely broken down: this may be confusing but you want to start by finding the largest number that goes into the original number and usually that is half of it when it is an even number. a basic factor would be 72 x 2, however you can still break down the 72: an easier way to break down the 72 is to have 9 x 8 which both have low numbers that can go into them. this latter way is probally more easier now that i think about it. the first way is correct, but may seem confusing as this is in type format, not on paper. good luck, and if you have any other questions please post them and i will be happy to help, i received an A and A- in my college level math classes.
holy crap its summer who cares?!
easy! just use prime factorization method. remember, start with small numbers!