What are the divisors of 2931?

1, 3, 977, 2931

4 odd divisors

1, 3, 977, 2931

How to compute the divisors of 2931?

A number N is said to be divisible by a number M (with M non-zero) if, when we divide N by M, the remainder of the division is zero.

N mod M = 0

Brute force algorithm

We could start by using a brute-force method which would involve dividing 2931 by each of the numbers from 1 to 2931 to determine which ones have a remainder equal to 0.

Remainder = N ( M × N M )

(where N M is the integer part of the quotient)

  • 2931 / 1 = 2931 (the remainder is 0, so 1 is a divisor of 2931)
  • 2931 / 2 = 1465.5 (the remainder is 1, so 2 is not a divisor of 2931)
  • 2931 / 3 = 977 (the remainder is 0, so 3 is a divisor of 2931)
  • ...
  • 2931 / 2930 = 1.0003412969283 (the remainder is 1, so 2930 is not a divisor of 2931)
  • 2931 / 2931 = 1 (the remainder is 0, so 2931 is a divisor of 2931)

Improved algorithm using square-root

However, there is another slightly better approach that reduces the number of iterations by testing only integers less than or equal to the square root of 2931 (i.e. 54.138710734557). Indeed, if a number N has a divisor D greater than its square root, then there is necessarily a smaller divisor d such that:

D × d = N

(thus, if N D = d , then N d = D )

  • 2931 / 1 = 2931 (the remainder is 0, so 1 and 2931 are divisors of 2931)
  • 2931 / 2 = 1465.5 (the remainder is 1, so 2 is not a divisor of 2931)
  • 2931 / 3 = 977 (the remainder is 0, so 3 and 977 are divisors of 2931)
  • ...
  • 2931 / 53 = 55.301886792453 (the remainder is 16, so 53 is not a divisor of 2931)
  • 2931 / 54 = 54.277777777778 (the remainder is 15, so 54 is not a divisor of 2931)