Factor pairs of 96 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 96. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 96?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 96.
To find the factor pairs of 96, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 96. 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 96 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:
96 ÷ 2 = 48
2 and 48 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 48 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 48 by that number. In this case, 2 is the new smallest prime factor:
48 ÷ 2 = 24
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 48, not 96. So, to finish the factor pair for 96, you’d multiply 2 and 2 before pairing with 24:
2 x 2 = 4
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 96:
(1, 96), (2, 48), (3, 32), (4, 24), (6, 16), (8, 12)
So, to list all the factors of 96: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 96
The negative factors of 96 would be: -1, -2, -3, -4, -6, -8, -12, -16, -24, -32, -48, -96