Is 96 a prime number?

There are many tests to find if 96 is a prime number or not. We can see that 96 has 12 divisors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48 and 96. But a prime number has only 2 factors. So, 96 cannot be a prime number.
 

Here are some methods that can prove why 96 is not a prime number. Let us look at these methods and learn them step by step.
 

In this method, we will find out the number of divisors that can divide the given number evenly. Based on the count of divisors, we will categorize the number as either prime or composite.

If the count of divisors is 2, then the number is a prime number. 

If the count of divisors is more than 2 then the number is composite.

Step 1: Note that every number, including 96, is divisible by 1.

Step 2: Divide 96 by 2, as it is divisible by 2. So 2 is a factor of 96.

Step 3: Then divide 96 by 3 and it can be divided by 3. So 3 is a factor of 96.

Step 4: Likewise, we have to check up to the square root of 96.

√96 = 9.797958 = 10 (approximately)

Step 5: As we can find, 96 is divided by 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 evenly.

Hence, 96 is not a prime number, because 96 has more than 2 divisors.
 

We will be checking the divisibility of 96 by a set of numbers. If divisible by any of the numbers, 96 is not a prime number.

Divisibility by 2: For a number to be divisible by 2, it has to be an even number. And 96 is an even number. Hence, 96 is divisible by 2. 

Divisibility by 3: The number should be a multiple of 3 to be divisible by 3. We have to add the digits and then check if the number is a multiple of 3. We can see that 96, when added, will give us 15. This will give us an answer of 15. We get 15, when we multiply, 3 × 5 = 15. This shows that 96 is divisible by 3.

Divisibility by 5: 96 is not divisible by 5 as it does not end with 0 or 5.

This shows that 96 is divisible by 3 and 2, apart from 1 and 96. Since this violates the rules of a prime number, 96 is not a prime number.
 

First let us look at the prime numbers from 1 to 100: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 and 97. As we can see, 96 does not appear in the list. This confirms that 96 is not a prime number.
 

Prime factorization helps determine the prime factors of numbers. For instance, 96 is a composite number because it has a prime factor of 2 and 3. Indeed, 96 can be presented as 2⁵ × 3 = 96, thus showing it has factors other than 1 and 96.
 

• Prime Factorization: Prime factorization is one of the methods in which a number is expressed as the product of its prime factors. For example, the prime factorization of 6 is 2×3.

• Multiple: The product of two numbers is called multiple. Some multiples of 96 are 96, 192, 288, 384, 480 and so on.

• Composite numbers: Composite numbers are natural numbers that are greater than 1 and have more than 2 factors other than 1 and itself. Some examples of composite numbers are 4, 6, and 9.

• Whole Numbers: The positive numbers from 0 to infinity are called whole numbers. Some examples of whole numbers are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on.