Factoring can be frustrating and time consuming when you don't have a plan of action. Not everyone is aware that there is something called divisibility rules that can be referenced when finding factors. But first, wait a minute... what is a factor???
Factors are numbers that can be multiplied together to create another number. Any given number can have multiple factors.
As you can see, depending on the number... it can take a LONG time to determine all of the factors. For example the number: 100. This number clearly has more than 2 factors. One method is to look at all the numbers from 1-10 and decide if they can multiply with another number to equal 100. This process looks like this:
1 x 100 = 100
2 x 50 = 100
4 x 25 = 100
5 x 20 = 100
10 x 10 = 100
Therefore the factors of 100 are: 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, and 100
Here is a video that explains what factoring is and demonstrates how you can use divisibility rules to find factors:
You can search the web to find resources for home or the classroom to use with kids. There are a lot of free worksheets and videos out there at the click of a button. I found a great site that covers factoring and divisibility rules, along with some sites that have packets and worksheets for student use.
Divisibility Rule Hand Out With Practice Sheet
Math Aid worksheets
