factor

To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).

Noun

  1. A doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.
    • The factor of the trading post bought the furs.
  2. An agent or representative; a reseller or distributor (sometimes with a private label); a consignee.
    • My factor sends me word, a merchant's fled / That owes me for a hundred tun of wine. - c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […],...
    • And let such as will number the Kings of Castile and Portugall amongst the warlike and magnanimous conquerors, seeke for some other adherent then my selfe, forsomuch as twelve hundred leagues from their idle residence...
    • What does he therefore, but resolvs to give over toyling, and to find himself out som factor, to whose care and credit he may commit the whole managing of his religious affairs; som Divine of note and estimation that...
  3. A commission agent.
  4. A person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
  5. A business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
  6. One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result.
    • The greatest factor in the decision was the need for public transportation.
    • The economy was a factor in this year's budget figures.
    • 1864-1898, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology the material and dynamical factors of nutrition
  7. Any of various objects multiplied together to form some whole.
    • 3 is a factor of 12, as are 2, 4 and 6.
    • The factors of the Klein four-group are both cyclic of order 2.
    • The formula adjusts for region and season by multiplying by a prescribed factor for each.
  8. Influence; a phenomenon that affects the nature, the magnitude, and/or the timing of a consequence.
    • The launch temperature was a factor of the Challenger disaster.
    • Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the...
  9. A resource used in the production of goods or services, a factor of production.
    • The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them[…]is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.[…]current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to...
  10. A steward or bailiff of an estate.
    • the factor was so scrupulous, as to keep the whole thing from his master, the lord chamberlain - 1822, [Walter Scott], The Pirate. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.]...

Origin

From Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Forms

factors factour

Hyponyms

acentric factor animal protein factor colony-stimulating factor common factor distribution factor factor of production form factor Gamow factor incremental power transfer distribution factor K-factor load factor paper factor power transfer distribution factor pull factor push factor rheumatoid factor S-factor Sommerfeld factor transcription factor

Related

fact faction factory fashion successor + = + +... = − = × = × ×... = ÷ = Or sometimes = √ = log(base) =

Derived

absolute uterine factor infertility absorption factor A factor aggravating factor antihemophilic factor A antihemophilic factor B anti-nuclear factor Bambi factor bifactor biofactor breakeven load factor bugger factor bus factor care factor care factor zero CDI factor Christmas factor citrovorum factor clotting factor coagulation factor cofactor contempt factor cord factor corn-factor

Verb

  1. To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).
  2. To rewrite an expression as the product of its factors.
  3. To be a product of other objects.
  4. To sell a debt or debts to an agent (the factor) to collect.

Forms

factors factoring factored factour

Derived

factor in factor out refactor