Factorization
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Factorization (or factorisation) is taking a composite number apart into its prime factors. In other words, when someone factorizes a number, he or she looks for smaller numbers, that can be multiplied to give the larger number. The factor is something that divides a number without a remainder.
For example, 12 can be factorized as 4x3. Since 4 is not a prime number, 12 is factorized as 3x2x2.
If the numbers which are obtained from the factorization, are ordered, for example starting with the smallest number, the factorization of every number is unique.
Since finding the numbers to multiply together is very difficult for large numbers, this fact can be used in cryptography.
