Factor

A factor, a Latin word meaning 'who/which acts', may refer to:

In commerce:

• Factor (agent), a person who acts for another, notably a mercantile and/or colonial agent
• Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate
• Factors of production, a resource used in the production of goods and services
• Factoring (finance), an entity providing commercial finance services
• Max Factor, a cosmetics company founded by Max Factor, Sr.

In biology:

• Factor B and factor D, peptides involved in the alternate pathway of immune system complement activation
• Coagulation factors, substances essential for blood coagulation
• Environmental factor, any abiotic or biotic factor that affects life
• An enzyme, proteins that catalyze chemical reactions

In mathematics:

• Divisor, an integer which evenly divides a number without leaving a remainder
• Factorization, the decomposition of an object into a product of other objects
• Integer factorization, the process of breaking down a composite number into smaller non-trivial divisors
• A coefficient, a multiplicative factor in an expression, usually a number
• A von Neumann algebra with a trivial center
• Factor (graph theory), a spanning subgraph
• Any finite contiguous subsequence of a word

In statistics:

• A categorical variable
• Factor analysis is the study of how factors or certain variables affect other variables

In physics:

• Sun protection factor, a unit describing reduction in transmitted ultraviolet light

In technology:

• Human factors, a profession that focuses on how people interact with products, tools, or procedures.

In computer science and information technology:

• Authentication factor, a piece of information used to verify a person's identity for security purposes
• Factor (programming language), a concatenative stack-oriented programming language
• A substring, a subsequence of consecutive symbols in a string

In scientific method:

• A phenomenon presumed to affect an experiment; see design of experiments

In television:

• The O'Reilly Factor, an American talk show hosted by Bill O'Reilly on Fox News
• The Krypton Factor, a British game show hosted by Gordon Burns, formerly on ITV
  • The Krypton Factor (US game show) American version

People:

• Max Factor, Sr., a Polish-American businessman and cosmetician
• Max Factor, Jr., son of the above, born Francis Factor
• John Factor, a Prohibition-era gangster

Organizations:

• FACTOR, the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records