To factor the expression \( 2t + 12u - 16v - 2 \), we first look for the greatest common factor (GCF) of all the terms.
The coefficients are \( 2, 12, -16, \) and \( -2 \). The GCF of these numbers is \( 2 \).
Now we can factor out \( 2 \) from the expression:
\[ 2(t + 6u - 8v - 1) \]
Therefore, the factored form of the expression is:
\[ 2(t + 6u - 8v - 1) \]
This is the product with a whole number greater than \( 1 \).