prime factor
1
4.9
- noun
- /praɪm ˈfæktər/
- Specialized
:
factor primo
- The number 30 can be expressed as a product of its prime factors: 2, 3, and 5.
- find prime factors
OK, take a number and find its prime factors, right?
- OK, take a number and find its prime factors, right?
- We took the number of tubes we had, we broke it down into prime factors.
- So what I'm going to do is I'm going to write these all as just their prime factors, OK?
- So I mean, think of this as taking a number and writing it as the product of its prime factors factorizing into primes.
- But my, so all of a sudden that suggested another way of looking at the problem where small prime factors would occur.
Examples
-
Peter is interested in prime factors.
-
Okay, after you've completed the prime factorization, identify the distinct prime factor.
-
OK, take a number and find its prime factors, right?
-
So I figure out the big number, then I break it down into prime factors.
-
Factoring a number with millions of digits into its prime factors will not be possible if engineers ever succeed in making such quantum computers.
-
To find the prime factors of 28, we can break it down into 2 and 7, since both are prime.
-
Understanding prime factors is essential when learning about number theory and divisibility.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is fully compositional: 'prime' (a number divisible only by 1 and itself) modifies 'factor' (a number that divides another), so the phrase straightforwardly means a factor that is prime and divides a number exactly. This noun–noun compounding is a common, cross‑linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Prime factor comes from a simple picture: a factor is a number that multiplies with others to make a whole number, and a prime is a number that 'cannot be split' into smaller whole numbers. So a prime factor is one of the basic building blocks that 'divide' the number evenly, which is why it means a prime number that divides another number exactly.