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Watch: What are factors?

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How do we use factors?

Factors are numbers that divide exactly into another number.

For example, the factors of 8 are:

1, 2, 4, 8

Factors can be shown in pairs. Each pair multiplies to make 8.

The factor pairs of 8 can be shown:

1 x 8 = 8

2 x 4 = 8

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Watch: What are multiples?

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Multiples of 2

An illustration of a young boy holding a caculator and the multiples of 2 - 2,4,6,8,0

Multiples are really just extended times tables.

The multiples of 2 are all the numbers in the 2 times table, such as 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and so on.

Multiples of 2 always end with:

2, 4, 6, 8 or 0

You can tell 2286, for example, is a multiple of 2 because it ends with a 6.

An illustration of a young boy holding a caculator and the multiples of 2 - 2,4,6,8,0
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Multiples of 5

An illustration of a girl thinking.

The multiples of 5 are all the numbers in the 5 times table, such as 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and so on.

Multiples of 5 always end with

5 or 0

You can tell 465, for example, is a multiple of 5 because it ends with a 5.

An illustration of a girl thinking.
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Watch: Multiples of 3,6,7,8 and 12

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Activity 1

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Activity 2

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Teaching resources

Looking for a way to bring the magic of maths to your classroom? This short animated film is from the 麻豆社 Teach Series, Hypatia's Mathematical Maze, and introduces the concepts of factors, multiples and primes.

麻豆社 Teach has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.

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NEW! Play Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica - the Halloween update. game

Experience Mathematica as you鈥檝e never seen it before, with all-new backgrounds and costumes for Halloween. Available for a limited time only. Use your maths skills to save the day before it's too late!

NEW! Play Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica - the Halloween update
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More on Factors, multiples and primes

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