I often see students confuse these two concepts and this section of our website was created to combat this for you. Factors are the numbers that multiply together to form a number. Factors have no remainder left behind when divided into their number. They refer to the exact divisor of a given number. To process factors, we use division. Multiples are the products that are formed after multiplying a number by and integer. These values are infinite and require the operation of multiplication. In this section of site, you will learn to identify both of these.
This cadre of worksheets really pushes students to understand their math facts and their times tables. Students will quickly realize that you quickly run out of factors because they are finite and are based on the integer you are evaluating. Multiples, conversely, are infinite and continue on. We encourage students to continue on with their answers up to a limit, usually two-hundred. If you are working on the Show the Skill worksheet, you could truly go on forever with that answer set. These worksheets explain the differences between factors and multiples. Students may be asked to supply answers within a range, find multiple examples, and more.