Math Tutor Explains: What are the Factors of 172?

As your math tutor, I’m here to guide you through the different types of factors of 172. Understanding factors is key to mastering multiplication, division, and prime numbers. Here’s a breakdown:

• Factors of 172: 1, 2, 4, 43, 86, 172

• Sum of Factors of 172: 308

• Negative Factors of 172: -1, -2, -4, -43, -86, -172

• Prime Factors of 172: 2, 43

• Prime Factorization of 172: 2^2 × 43^1

There are two main ways a math tutor would explain how to find the factors of 172: 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 172 step by step!

Factor pairs of 172 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 172. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 172?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 172.

To find the factor pairs of 172, follow these steps:

Step 1:

Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 172. 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 172 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:

172 ÷ 2 = 86

2 and 86 will make a new factor pair.

Step 3:

Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 86 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 86 by that number. In this case, 2 is the new smallest prime factor:

86 ÷ 2 = 43

Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 86, not 172. So, to finish the factor pair for 172, you’d multiply 2 and 2 before pairing with 43:

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 172:

(1, 172), (2, 86), (4, 43)

So, to list all the factors of 172: 1, 2, 4, 43, 86, 172

The negative factors of 172 would be: -1, -2, -4, -43, -86, -172

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 172, we break it down step by step until only prime factors remain. Then, we express 172 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 172 only has a few differences from the above method of finding the factors of 172. 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 172:

Step 1:

Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 172. 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 172 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2

172 ÷ 2 = 86

2 becomes the first number in our prime factorization.

Step 3:

Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 86 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 86 by that number. The smallest prime factor you pick for 86 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 172 are: 2, 43

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

Factors of 11 - The factors of 11 are 1, 11

Factors of 50 - The factors of 50 are 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50

Factors of 122 - The factors of 122 are 1, 2, 61, 122

Factors of 107 - The factors of 107 are 1, 107