Which mathematical operation would you perform to find the final value when a number is increased by a factor of 2?

To determine the final value when a number is increased by a factor of 2, the appropriate operation is to multiply the original number by 2. This operation reflects the definition of increasing a number by a factor, meaning that you are scaling the original number by that factor.

For instance, if the original number is 5, increasing this number by a factor of 2 would yield:

5 * 2 = 10.

This result demonstrates that the original number has effectively doubled.

Multiplication by 2 directly aligns with the concept of scaling or increasing a quantity, making it the correct choice for this question. The other options do not fulfill the requirement of increasing a number by a factor; instead, they involve addition, subtraction, or squaring, which do not correspond to the intended operation of multiplying by 2.