Factor pairs of 117 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 117. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 117?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 117.
To find the factor pairs of 117, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 117. 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 117 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 3:
117 ÷ 3 = 39
3 and 39 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 39 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 39 by that number. In this case, 3 is the new smallest prime factor:
39 ÷ 3 = 13
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 39, not 117. So, to finish the factor pair for 117, you’d multiply 3 and 3 before pairing with 13:
3 x 3 = 9
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 117:
(1, 117), (3, 39), (9, 13)
So, to list all the factors of 117: 1, 3, 9, 13, 39, 117
The negative factors of 117 would be: -1, -3, -9, -13, -39, -117