Factorizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The technique of separating numbers or expressions into their multiplying elements serves to simplify equations or calculations
2. This procedure involves dividing a mathematical expression into its component factors to facilitate analysis or problem-solving
3. The process of expressing a number or expression as a product of simpler elements to make calculations easier

Etymology: Factorizing is a plain compound of two parts. "Factor" came into English through Anglo-Norman and Middle French from Latin "factor", meaning "doer" or "maker", from the verb "facere" (to do or make). In mathematics it came to mean a number or expression that multiplies with another to produce a product, so to factor a number is to find the things that make it. The ending "-ize" has a longer ancestry. It descends from Ancient Greek "-izein", a verb-forming suffix, which passed through Late Latin "-izare" and Middle French "-iser" before reaching English. English speakers attached it freely to nouns, so "factor" became "factorize", meaning to split an expression into its factors.

Synonyms: decomposing, breaking down