Factor pairs of 125 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 125. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 125?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 125.
To find the factor pairs of 125, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 125. 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 5.
Step 2:
Divide 125 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 5:
125 ÷ 5 = 25
5 and 25 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 25 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 25 by that number. In this case, 5 is the new smallest prime factor:
25 ÷ 5 = 5
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 25, not 125. So, to finish the factor pair for 125, you’d multiply 5 and 5 before pairing with 5:
5 x 5 = 25
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 125:
(1, 125), (5, 25)
So, to list all the factors of 125: 1, 5, 25, 125
The negative factors of 125 would be: -1, -5, -25, -125