Sorry too general a question. I am not ready to write a book tonight. It means separating quantities into things which when multiplied together will give you the thing back.
like
6 = 2 * 3
prime factor means you can not divide it up into smaller pieces unless you count 1 as a factor which is cheating. (like 6 = 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 *2 * 3)
if it is an expression like 6 x^2 y^3 then that is 2 * 3 *x*x * y * y * y
or
(x^2-4) = (x-2) * (x+2)
How to factor
2 answers
google is the first place to try, when all you have is a general question. Then tell us some of your ideas, and we maybe can help focus the discussion. But don't expect us to do your whole assignment, even including the research!