What are factors?

Factors are numbers that multiply together to make another number.

Imagine you have 12 cookies, and you want to share them equally with your friends. The different ways you can divide those cookies show the factors of 12.

If you give 3 cookies to each of 4 friends, that’s one way to split them, so 3 and 4 are factors of 12, because 3 × 4 = 12.

You could also give 2 cookies to each of 6 friends, so 2 and 6 are also factors.

Or even 1 cookie to each of 12 friends, 1 and 12 are factors too!

Think of factors like building blocks. If you have a wall made up of 12 bricks, the different ways you can arrange those bricks (like in rows) show the factors. A wall with 3 rows of 4 bricks is one way, so 3 and 4 are factors again.

Factors help us see how numbers can be broken down into smaller parts that multiply together, just like cookies or blocks!