Divisors in the context of "Superior highly composite number"

Cuisenaire rods are mathematics learning aids for pupils that provide an interactive, hands-on way to explore mathematics and learn mathematical concepts, such as the four basic arithmetical operations, working with fractions and finding divisors. In the early 1950s, Caleb Gattegno popularised this set of coloured number rods created by Georges Cuisenaire (1891–1975), a Belgian primary school teacher, who called the rods réglettes.

According to Gattegno, "Georges Cuisenaire showed in the early 1950s that pupils who had been taught traditionally, and were rated 'weak', took huge strides when they shifted to using the material. They became 'very good' at traditional arithmetic when they were allowed to manipulate the rods."

A highly composite number is a positive integer that has more divisors than all smaller positive integers. If d(n) denotes the number of divisors of a positive integer n, then a positive integer N is highly composite if d(N) > d(n) for all n < N. For example, 6 is highly composite because d(6) = 4, and for n = 1,2,3,4,5, you get d(n) = 1,2,2,3,2, respectively, which are all less than 4.

A related concept is that of a largely composite number, a positive integer that has at least as many divisors as all smaller positive integers. The name can be somewhat misleading, as the first two highly composite numbers (1 and 2) are not actually composite numbers; however, all further terms are.