Factors, Prime Factors and Highest Common Factor (HCF)

2.1  Factors, Prime Factors and Highest Common Factor (HCF)

Factors

A number that divides another number completely.

The factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12.

Example

Is 12 the factor of 36?

36 ÷ 12 = 3

Thus, 12 is the factor of 36.

Prime Factor

Factor that is a prime number.

Example

The factors of 18 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 18.

Between these factors, 2 and 3 are prime numbers.

Thus, the prime factors of 18 are 2 and 3.

 
 Solution Methods

Repeated division:

Express 60 in the form of prime factorisation.

Perform division repeatedly by dividing with the smallest prime number.

Division is continued until the quotient is 1.

2 60
2 30
3 ​ 15 ​

5 5
1

Thus, 

60 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5.

Factor trees:

Express 60 in the form of prime factorisation.

Thus, 

60 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5.

Common Factor

A number that is a factor of a few other numbers.

 
 Example

Determine whether 6 is a common factor of 24 and 36.

24 ÷ 6 = 4
36 ÷ 6 = 6

24 and 36 can be divided completely by 6.

Thus, 6 is a common factor of 24 and 36.

Highest Common Factor (HCF)

The greatest number among the common factors.

Example

(i) Determine the highest common factor of 18 and 24.

Listing the common factors:

Factors of 18 : 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18

Factors of 24 : 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24

So, the common factors of 18 and 24 is 1, 2, 3 and 6.

Thus, HCF is 6.

(ii) Determine the highest common factor of 30, 60 and 72.

Repeated division:

2 36, 60, 72
2 18, 30, 36
3 9, 15, 18
​ ​

3, 5, 6

Thus, HCF of 36, 60 and 72 is

2 × 2 × 3 = 12.

(iii) Determine the highest common factor of 48, 64 and 80.

Prime factorisation:

48 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3

64 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2

80 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5

Thus, HCF is

2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 16.

© 2022 Pandai.org All Rights Reserved Made with 