Adan M.

asked • 02/15/16

any possible factors

what are the possible factors of 39,617 if there are any

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Hamilton A. answered • 02/15/16

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39617 = 173 * 229.
 
173 and 229 are both prime, so that's as much factoring as you can do.
 
I'm not sure what the point of this question is, from an educational perspective... there are various rules for checking to see if a number is divisible by 2, 3, 5, etc., but none will apply in this case. There's no easy way to see that 39617 = 173 * 229; prime factorizations are almost always left to powerful computers, and even they struggle with it.
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Arthur D.

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There is a method to determine if a number is prime or composite. Take the square root of 39,617.
√39,617=199.0402
Check to see if 39,617 is divisible by any prime number less than 199. You don't have to check for divisibility by any composite numbers.
Check for divisibility by 197, 193, 191, 181, 179, 173, 167, and so on.
If you're not sure if a number is a prime or not repeat the procedure; take the square root of the number and divide by all the primes less than the square root of the number.
Granted, if the number becomes greater and greater the procedure becomes more difficult and more involved.
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02/15/16

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