If 30= 2 *3*5
The total number of factors of 30 are (2)^3. Can somebody explain why?
factor question
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If you need to count the number of divisors of x:2008 wrote:sudhir3127 wrote:30= 2 *3*5
hence its (1+1)*(1+1)*(1+1) number of factors..
thus eight...
maybe i m just burn out this afternoon, but i dont get it... can you please explain this formula?
1) prime factorize x, and write the prime factorization in the conventional notation (using exponents if primes are repeated);
2) now look only at the exponents: add one to each exponent, and multiply the resulting numbers.
To take an example, how many positive divisors does 180 have?
1) Prime factorize: 180 = (2^2)(3^2)(5^1)
2) Add one to each power and multiply: 3*3*2 = 18.
So 180 has 18 different positive divisors. You can see why this works: any number that can be written as (2^a)(3^b)(5^c) will be a divisor of (2^2)(3^2)(5^1) just as long as:
a = 0, 1 or 2 (three choices)
b = 0, 1 or 2 (three choices)
c = 0 or 1 (two choices)
Now it's a counting problem- we multiply the number of choices we have for each of a, b and c: 3*3*2 = 18.
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