Pronunciation key ( fak′tẽr ) |
fac•tor
n.
[Fr. facteur; OFr. factour; L. factor doer, maker, performer < pp. of facere, to do, to make]
- [Brit.] A person who carries on business transactions for another, an agent for sale of goods, a commissioned merchant.
- [U.S.A.] In some states, a garnishee.
- [Scot.] A person who manages an estate, a steward or bailiff. A person who is legally responsible for sequestered or forfeited property.
- A specialized commercial banker who finances manufacturing and dealers, designating receivables as collateral.
- Any circumstance or condition, constituting the dynamics, which bring about and directly contribute to a given outcome.
- An element that makes a thing what it is.
- biology, unit of heredity, gene.
- mathematics, numbers or symbols that form a product when multiplied together; integers that divide another integer evenly and leave no remainder.
Also, one or two or more quantities which, when multiplied give a product. When one factor is divided into that product, the quotient is always another factor.
One of several constants or variables multiplied together to give a product. Example:
12 = 1 x 12 and 2 x 6 and 3 x 4, therefore the positive integral factors of 12 will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12.
Natural numbers have as factors itself and 1. If in the event it has no other factors, it is a prime number.
Factoring, is the process of breaking up a product into component factors. This process is used often in Algebra to transform polynomials and rational expressions into equivalent expressions.
Also see factorial. - physiology, an element which plays an important role in metabolism and nutrition such as vitamins, enzymes or hormones.
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