What does it mean to factor?

In mat, to factor something means to make the greatest common factor distribute to the rest. (This is hard >.<). Basically factoring means to turn that expression in a distributive expression. For example:

The question tells you to factor 93+36

So you find the greatest common factor, which is 3

You put 3 as the number distributing the number

93/3=31

36/3=12

The quotient become the numbers you put in your parentheses

So the final answer will be like this : 3(31+12)

Sorry Its hard explaining math :P