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[[[>40 Usually when we refer to a factor we mean a "non-trivial factor," which would then exclude this last example, and exclude considering 1 as a factor of anything. More generally, any element that is a factor or everything else is called a "unit." ]]] A factor is something that divides into something else. Examples include: * 7 is a factor of 91, * /(x-1)/ is a factor of EQN:x^2-2x+1, and * in a group /G,/ the identity element, /e,/ is a factor of everything. If a number N can be written as a (usually non-trivial) product, so that /N=pq,/ then p and q are called factors of N. By analogy, other mathematical objects: polynomials, matrices etc. can have factors. The fundamental theorem of arithmetic says that the prime factors of a number are, up to sign and reordering, unique.