Hi! Welcome to my blog!

My name is Iva Sallay, and I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UNLV in 1974. In addition to being a mother and grandmother, I have tutored and/or taught mathematics for many years.

Each of my children has a healthy attitude toward mathematics, and most of them have chosen careers in related fields. My husband and I have been married for over 41 years, and we currently live in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The majority of people who visit this blog are looking for the factors of different numbers, an inevitable consequence of my naming the blog “Find the Factors.com.” Rather than frustrate them, I’ve chosen to number every post in the order they are written and include the factors, factor pairs, and prime factorization of the post number.

Some of my faithful readers are also interested in what makes each number special, and I have greatly enjoyed learning something different about each number. Thus most of the posts not only include the factoring information about the post number but also interesting facts about that number.

Sometimes I write about some mathematical concept that has been occupying my thoughts. I have written posts ranging from elementary school addition to college level number theory. The posts are meant to be enjoyed by someone somewhere. Easy concepts are mixed in with more advanced concepts. Beginning with the 731st post I have tried to begin each post with the easiest concept to understand, then progress to the next easiest concept, and eventually end with the most difficult. If you find a particular topic too advanced to be enjoyed, and maybe you even start having a headache, please stop reading that one and try a different one instead. Sometimes I even write about other topics that fascinate me like Hungary, genealogy, or . . . elephants, but mostly I write about mathematics.

The reason I started writing a blog was because I enjoy making puzzles. I produced the first Find the Factors puzzle when my daughter learned to multiply in third grade, and I acknowledge that the idea of these puzzles as well as every other talent and ability I possess is a gift from my Heavenly Father. Although the puzzles are still relatively unknown, readers of this blog from all over the world have worked on and solved them. I am especially grateful to the classroom teachers who have used them to challenge their students while reinforcing basic multiplication facts. (A teacher should probably be able to solve a puzzle before asking students to solve it. Level 1 puzzles are easy to solve, but each level gets progressively more difficult.)

I type the puzzles on my home computer, but they are NOT computer generated. Each one is carefully planned and tested personally by me.

I consider the Find the Factors puzzle to be an excellent way for children AND adults to review multiplication facts, use logic, and strengthen brain power. Once the factors are found, children and adults can make a game of filling in the rest of the table.

I periodically place an excel file with six new Find the Factor puzzles on the blog. Each of the six puzzles is featured in its own blog post.