As your math tutor, I’m here to help you break down factor pairs of 512 step by step!
Factor pairs of 512 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 512. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 512?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 512.
To find the factor pairs of 512, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 512. 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 512 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:
512 ÷ 2 = 256
2 and 256 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 256 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 256 by that number. In this case, 2 is the new smallest prime factor:
256 ÷ 2 = 128
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 256, not 512. So, to finish the factor pair for 512, you’d multiply 2 and 2 before pairing with 128:
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 512:
(1, 512), (2, 256), (4, 128), (8, 64), (16, 32)
So, to list all the factors of 512: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512
The negative factors of 512 would be: -1, -2, -4, -8, -16, -32, -64, -128, -256, -512
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!