As your math tutor, I’m here to help you break down factor pairs of 3500 step by step!
Factor pairs of 3500 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 3500. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 3500?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 3500.
To find the factor pairs of 3500, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 3500. 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 3500 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:
3500 ÷ 2 = 1750
2 and 1750 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 1750 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 1750 by that number. In this case, 2 is the new smallest prime factor:
1750 ÷ 2 = 875
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 1750, not 3500. So, to finish the factor pair for 3500, you’d multiply 2 and 2 before pairing with 875:
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 3500:
(1, 3500), (2, 1750), (4, 875), (5, 700), (7, 500), (10, 350), (14, 250), (20, 175), (25, 140), (28, 125), (35, 100), (50, 70)
So, to list all the factors of 3500: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 20, 25, 28, 35, 50, 70, 100, 125, 140, 175, 250, 350, 500, 700, 875, 1750, 3500
The negative factors of 3500 would be: -1, -2, -4, -5, -7, -10, -14, -20, -25, -28, -35, -50, -70, -100, -125, -140, -175, -250, -350, -500, -700, -875, -1750, -3500
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!