Arithmetic » Divisor, divisible and multiple

Divisor and divisible

A number is divisible by another number when the result of the division of those two numbers is a whole number. The number by which you divide is then a divisor of the number that is divided.

Example
36 : 3 = 12
Because the outcome is a whole number, 36 is divisible by 3.
The number 3 is a divisor of 36.

All the divisors of 36 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 36.

What about the numbers 0 and 1?

The division 0 : 3 = 0 gives a whole number as a result.
Therefore 0 is divisible by 3.
The number 3 is therefore also a divisor of 0.
What we do with 3 here, we can do with every whole number.
So every whole number (including 0) is a divisor of 0.

The number 1 is only divisible by 1.
The number 1 therefore has only one divisor: the number 1.

Prime numbers

Prime numbers are numbers with only two divisors.
Namely the number 1 and the number itself.
The first ten prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23 and 29.
Look at the theory about prime numbers for more information about prime numbers.

Multiple

A multiple of a number is divisble by that number.
For example, 28 is divisible by 4 so 28 is a multiple of 4.
You could also say that 28 is in the times table of 4 and therefore is a multiple of 4.
Remember: A number is also a multiple of itself.

Examples
The first five multiples of 3 are: 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15
The first five multiples of 7 are: 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35