Introduction
There are 12 things in a dozen. It seems many things are grouped into a dozen. The number 12 even got its own word…dozen. This shows how useful it would be to know the factors of 12.
Whenever you group something that came from a dozen, then you will need to use division and the factors of 12.
When you think of a dozen, the first thing you think of might be a dozen eggs. For the most part, eggs come in cartons of 12. It has been this way for a long time.
However, who uses a dozen eggs in a dish at one time? Most likely, you use a few unless you are making a large quiche or cooking 12 eggs for breakfast.
Let’s say you are scrambling 12 eggs for breakfast for your family. Each person gets a certain amount of eggs for their breakfast. So, you need to divide it equally. Here is where factors come in handy.
If the number of people in your family is not a factor of 12, then someone will get more eggs than someone else. In order to make it fair, you would need to have scrambled more or fewer eggs than 12 or allow the parents to eat a few more eggs than your children.
Finding the Factors of 12
For the number 12, there are a few more factors than previous numbers. A way to find the factors of 12 would be to list all the numbers from 1-12 like the list below.
Then decide if each number can equally be divided into 12 without having a remainder. If you are not sure whether these possible factors can equally divide into 12, then use a calculator or create and work a division problem for each one.
When you divide the number into 12 and if there is a remainder, then it is not a factor. You can cross that number out. The remaining numbers would be the factors of 12.
From these calculations, you can tell that the factors above that do not have a remainder would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.
To check, each factor should have a partner. So, when they are multiplied together, they will equal 12.
Let’s double check to make sure.
The last thing to do is to check to see that each number in our multiplication facts above are in our factor list for 12…and they are all in our factor 12 list.
Factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12
Challenging Problems
Question 1List the factors of 12
Which positive whole numbers divide 12 without leaving a remainder?
The factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12.
Each listed number divides the original number evenly.
Question 2Find the factor pairs of 12
Which multiplication pairs have a product of 12?
12 has these positive factor pairs: 1 × 12; 2 × 6; 3 × 4.
Multiplying the two numbers in any pair gives the original number.
Question 3Prime-factorize 12
What is the prime factorization of 12?
12 = 2 × 2 × 3.
Every number in the product is prime.
