Rule

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:27 pm
Followed by:2 members

Rule

by abhirup1711 » Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:00 am
Hi,
I can't remember the rule that dividing a particular numbers into its prime factors and then adding 1 gives some kind of a solution. Can someone please help me out? Apologies for being so vague.

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2621
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 am
Location: Montreal
Thanked: 1090 times
Followed by:355 members
GMAT Score:780

by Ian Stewart » Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:46 am
I think you might be asking about how we count how many divisors a number has. If you take a number like 375, and want to work out how many positive divisors 375 has, you can first prime factorize:

375 = 3*125 = (3^1)(5^3)

Now to find how many positive divisors 375 has in total, we can add 1 to each exponent and multiply what we get. So 375 has 2*4 = 8 divisors.

If you want to know why this works, or to see other examples, I and other experts here have posted about this method a few times, so you'll find more detail by searching the forum for a phrase like 'counting divisors'.
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

ianstewartgmat.com