factorization

American  

[fak-ter-uh-zay-shuhn, fak-ter-ahy-] / ˌfæk tər əˈzeɪ ʃən, ˌfæk tərˌaɪ- /

noun

plural

factorizations

1. Mathematics. the breaking down of a quantity, such as a number or an expression, into factors whose product equals that quantity; the result of this process.

2. the act or process of factoring something, or resolving it into its component parts.

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Other Word Forms

• prefactorization noun
• refactorization noun

Explanation

In math, factorization is when you break a number down into smaller numbers that, multiplied together, give you that original number. When you split a number into its factors or divisors, that's factorization. For example, factorization of the number 12 might look like 3 times 4. You can break that down even further using prime factorization, when you reduce a number to prime factors. In this case, 12 can be factorized to 3 times 2 times 2. The word factorization comes from factor, which has had a mathematical meaning since the 1600s.

Example Sentences

Quantum computers would have the capacity to be faster than traditional computers at optimization problems like analyzing supply chains, simulation problems like discovering new chemical combinations for drugs, machine learning and factorization.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

The idea is to express the matrix as a product of simpler matrices—similar to the prime factorization of a number.

From Scientific American • Aug. 17, 2023

The implications were immediately obvious: prime factorization was the backbone of modern encryption.

From Scientific American • Sep. 22, 2022

TRY IT : : 1.4 Find the prime factorization of 60.

From Textbooks • May 6, 2020

Lehmer , factorization of certain cyclotomic functions, Annals of Math, Serie 2, vol 34, 1933, pp. 461-479.

From Miscellaneous Mathematical Constants by Plouffe, Simon