Math Tutor Explains: What are the Factors of 258?

As your math tutor, I’m here to guide you through the different types of factors of 258. Understanding factors is key to mastering multiplication, division, and prime numbers. Here’s a breakdown:

• Factors of 258: 1, 2, 3, 6, 43, 86, 129, 258

• Sum of Factors of 258: 528

• Negative Factors of 258: -1, -2, -3, -6, -43, -86, -129, -258

• Prime Factors of 258: 2, 3, 43

• Prime Factorization of 258: 2^1 × 3^1 × 43^1

There are two main ways a math tutor would explain how to find the factors of 258: using factor pairs and prime factorization. Let’s explore both!

As your math tutor, I’m here to help you break down factor pairs of 258 step by step!

Factor pairs of 258 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 258. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 258?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 258.

To find the factor pairs of 258, follow these steps:

Step 1:

Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 258. 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 258 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:

258 ÷ 2 = 129

2 and 129 will make a new factor pair.

Step 3:

Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 129 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 129 by that number. In this case, 3 is the new smallest prime factor:

129 ÷ 3 = 43

Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 129, not 258. So, to finish the factor pair for 258, you’d multiply 2 and 3 before pairing with 43:

2 x 3 = 6

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 258:

(1, 258), (2, 129), (3, 86), (6, 43)

So, to list all the factors of 258: 1, 2, 3, 6, 43, 86, 129, 258

The negative factors of 258 would be: -1, -2, -3, -6, -43, -86, -129, -258

Now you’ve got it! A math tutor would always encourage you to practice with different numbers to reinforce your understanding of factor pairs. Try another one!

To find the prime factorization of 258, we break it down step by step until only prime factors remain. Then, we express 258 as a product of these prime factors multiplied together. Let’s go through the process and simplify it like a math tutor would!

The process of finding the prime factorization of 258 only has a few differences from the above method of finding the factors of 258. Instead of ensuring we find the right factor pairs, we continue to factor each step until we are left with only the list of smallest prime factors greater than 1.

Here are the steps for finding the prime factorization of 258:

Step 1:

Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 258. 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 258 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2

258 ÷ 2 = 129

2 becomes the first number in our prime factorization.

Step 3:

Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 129 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 129 by that number. The smallest prime factor you pick for 129 will then be the next prime factor. If you keep repeating this process, there will be a point where there will be no more prime factors left, which leaves you with the prime factors for prime factorization.

So, the unique prime factors of 258 are: 2, 3, 43

Practice your factoring skills by exploring how to factor other numbers, like the ones below:

Factors of 30 - The factors of 30 are 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30

Factors of 114 - The factors of 114 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 19, 38, 57, 114

Factors of 123 - The factors of 123 are 1, 3, 41, 123

Factors of 8 - The factors of 8 are 1, 2, 4, 8