Math Tutor Explains: What are the Factors of 253?

As your math tutor, I’m here to guide you through the different types of factors of 253. Understanding factors is key to mastering multiplication, division, and prime numbers. Here’s a breakdown:

• Factors of 253: 1, 11, 23, 253

• Sum of Factors of 253: 288

• Negative Factors of 253: -1, -11, -23, -253

• Prime Factors of 253: 11, 23

• Prime Factorization of 253: 11^1 × 23^1

There are two main ways a math tutor would explain how to find the factors of 253: 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 253 step by step!

Factor pairs of 253 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 253. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 253?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 253.

To find the factor pairs of 253, follow these steps:

Step 1:

Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 253. 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 11.

Step 2:

Divide 253 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 11:

253 ÷ 11 = 23

11 and 23 will make a new factor pair.

Step 3:

Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 23 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 23 by that number. In this case, 23 is the new smallest prime factor:

23 ÷ 23 = 1

Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 23, not 253. So, to finish the factor pair for 253, you’d multiply 11 and 23 before pairing with 1:

11 x 23 = 253

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 253:

(1, 253), (11, 23)

So, to list all the factors of 253: 1, 11, 23, 253

The negative factors of 253 would be: -1, -11, -23, -253

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 253, we break it down step by step until only prime factors remain. Then, we express 253 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 253 only has a few differences from the above method of finding the factors of 253. 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 253:

Step 1:

Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 253. 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 11.

Step 2:

Divide 253 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 11

253 ÷ 11 = 23

11 becomes the first number in our prime factorization.

Step 3:

Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 23 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 23 by that number. The smallest prime factor you pick for 23 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 253 are: 11, 23

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

Factors of 42 - The factors of 42 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42

Factors of 33 - The factors of 33 are 1, 3, 11, 33

Factors of 102 - The factors of 102 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 17, 34, 51, 102

Factors of 147 - The factors of 147 are 1, 3, 7, 21, 49, 147