Factors of 15

Introduction

Some mortgages are set for 30 years, and some are set for 15 years. Let’s say that you buy a house and get a 15-year mortgage on the property. However, you prefer to pay it off faster.

Every three years, you will increase your monthly payment by $200 based on the fact that you will earn more money every few years due to raises and bonuses at your job.

That sounds like a good plan. You might get to pay off your mortgage early. That would be really nice. To make this plan happen, you will need to find out how many times you will increase your monthly payments. This requires you to divide and use the factors of 15.

Calculating Factors for 15

Using the factors for 15 can help you answer questions about grouping 15 objects. In this situation with the 15-year mortgage, you are grouping years. Factors for 15 can be found by following a set of rules in a diagram for finding factors.

From the diagram, in the green box, it states that 1 and 15 are factors of 15. As we move to the red box, we find that we need to figure out if 15 is an odd or even number. Fifteen is an odd number, so 2 will not be a factor.

Since it is an odd number, then we need to see if 3 can divide equally into 15 without getting a remainder. Fifteen divided by 3 is 5. So, 3 is a factor of 15. Its partner is 5. Last, we need to try and see if numbers 4 through 14 can be divided equally into 15 without any remainders.

We don’t have to try 5 because we know it is already a factor since it is a partner with 3. However, the other numbers are not factors because they would have remainders when they would be divided into 15.

Factors of 15 are 1, 3, 5 and 15

Challenging Problems