Question

If p and q are two different prime numbers greater than 2, and n=pq, how many positive factors

Answer 1

Answer: 3 factors

The factors are 1, p and q only.

Answer 2

A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that cannot be formed by multiplying two smaller natural numbers.

If n=p·q, where p and q are prime numbers, then you can see that

• p is positive factor, because
  `(n)/(p)=q;`
• q is positive factor, because
  `(n)/(q)=p;`
• n is positive factor, because
  `(n)/(n)=1;`
• 1 is positive factor, because
  `(n)/(1)=n.`

Last two factors are called trivial, because each natural number n (n>1) has these two factors.

Answer: 4 positive factors: 1, p, q, n.