Question

Complete the table to find all the factor pairs of 42.

First factor
Second factor
and
42
2
and
and
and

Answer 1

42 to 1

21 to 2

14 to 3

7 to 6

Explanation:

Work your way down, starting with the classic product-to-1 as I call it.

In this case, the product-to-1 is 42 to 1.

Now, what can we divide 42 by in order to get a whole number?

We can divide 42 by 2 to get 21, so 21 to 2 is a factor pair.

We can also divide 42 by 3 to get 14, so we can add 14 to 3 as a factor pair.

If we try to divide 42 by 4 or 5, however, we won't get a whole number, so those are off the list.

But we can divide 42 by 6 to get 7 (or vice versa, 42 divided by 7 is 6) so 7 to 6 is a factor pair.

Hope this factor pair list helps!