As your math tutor, I’m here to help you break down factor pairs of 960 step by step!
Factor pairs of 960 are any two numbers that, when multiplied together, equal 960. The question to ask is “what two numbers multiplied together equal 960?” Every factor can be paired with another factor, and multiplying the two will result in 960.
To find the factor pairs of 960, follow these steps:
Step 1:
Find the smallest prime number that is larger than 1, and is a factor of 960. 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 960 by the smallest prime factor, in this case, 2:
960 ÷ 2 = 480
2 and 480 will make a new factor pair.
Step 3:
Repeat Steps 1 and 2, using 480 as the new focus. Find the smallest prime factor that isn’t 1, and divide 480 by that number. In this case, 2 is the new smallest prime factor:
480 ÷ 2 = 240
Remember that this new factor pair is only for the factors of 480, not 960. So, to finish the factor pair for 960, you’d multiply 2 and 2 before pairing with 240:
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 960:
(1, 960), (2, 480), (3, 320), (4, 240), (5, 192), (6, 160), (8, 120), (10, 96), (12, 80), (15, 64), (16, 60), (20, 48), (24, 40), (30, 32)
So, to list all the factors of 960: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320, 480, 960
The negative factors of 960 would be: -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -8, -10, -12, -15, -16, -20, -24, -30, -32, -40, -48, -60, -64, -80, -96, -120, -160, -192, -240, -320, -480, -960
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!