Factors of 16

Introduction

Have you ever poured the last drops of the orange juice into your glass from the container only to find that your friends come in demanding that you share it with them? It seems fair because no one likes someone to take the last full glass of orange juice.

Your glass holds 16 ounces of juice. Your two other friends grab 2 of the same glasses. Now, you want to make it fair, so you tell your friends that everyone will get the same ounces of orange juice.

So, do you really think you can make that happen? Actually, that would be impossible. It all has to do with the factors of 16 as well as the number of people in this group. Let’s take a closer look at the factors for 16 before we look back at this orange juice situation.

All Factors for 16

The factors for 16 can be found by looking at all of the numbers that are 16 and fewer. With these numbers, you will need to take each number and divide it into 16.

Does that number divide into 16 equally without a remainder? If so, then that number is a factor for 16. If not, then it isn’t a factor for 16.

Now, back to our orange juice problem. Someone in your group of 3, which includes yourself, will not get the same amount. This is because 3 is not a factor of 16. You will have a remainder of 1. One person will get 1 more ounce than everyone else.

Factors of 16 are 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16.

Challenging Problems