divisor

/dəˈvaɪzər/

/dɪˈvaɪzə/

Other forms: divisors

In math, the number you're dividing by is called the divisor. In the equation 24 ÷ 6 = 4, the divisor is 6.

Often math teachers use the word divisor simply to mean any number by which you're dividing another number, whether it divides evenly or leaves a remainder. An alternate definition is "a number that divides into another without a remainder." If you need to find the greatest common divisor of several numbers, you're looking for the largest number that divides evenly, with no remainder, into all of them.

Definitions of divisor

1. noun

   one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another integer
   synonyms: factor

   types:

   prime factor

   the prime factors of a quantity are all of the prime quantities that will exactly divide the given quantity

   equivalent-binary-digit factor

   the average number of binary digits needed to express one radix digit in a numeration system that is not binary; on the average a number that can be expressed in N decimal digits takes 3.3N binary digits

   common divisor, common factor, common measure

   an integer that divides two (or more) other integers evenly

   greatest common divisor, greatest common factor, highest common factor

   the largest integer that divides without remainder into a set of integers

   type of:

   integer, whole number

   any of the natural numbers or their negatives or zero
2. noun

   the number by which a dividend is divided
   types:

   denominator

   the divisor of a fraction

   aliquot, aliquot part

   an integer that is an exact divisor of some quantity

   aliquant, aliquant part

   an integer that is not an exact divisor of some quantity

   common denominator

   an integer that is a common multiple of the denominators of two or more fractions

   type of:

   number

   a concept of quantity involving zero and units