Factor pairs of 27 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 27. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 27?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 27.
To find the factor pairs of 27, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 27. 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 27 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 3:
27 ÷ 3 = 9
3 and 9 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 9 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 9 by that number. In this case, 3 is the new smallest prime factor:
9 ÷ 3 = 3
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 9, not 27. So, to finish the factor pair for 27, you’d multiply 3 and 3 before pairing with 3:
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 27:
(1, 27), (3, 9)
So, to list all the factors of 27: 1, 3, 9, 27
The negative factors of 27 would be: -1, -3, -9, -27