Factor pairs of 10 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 10. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 10?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 10.
To find the factor pairs of 10, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 10. 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 2.
Step 2:
Divide 10 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:
10 ÷ 2 = 5
2 and 5 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 5 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 5 by that number. In this case, 5 is the new smallest prime factor:
5 ÷ 5 = 1
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 5, not 10. So, to finish the factor pair for 10, you’d multiply 2 and 5 before pairing with 1:
2 x 5 = 10
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 10:
(1, 10), (2, 5)
So, to list all the factors of 10: 1, 2, 5, 10
The negative factors of 10 would be: -1, -2, -5, -10