Greatest Common Factor (GCF) and Least Common Multiple (LCM)
Greatest Common Factor (GCF) and Least Common Multiple (LCM)
Greatest
Common Factor
Definition :
▪ Greatest Common Factor – the largest
factor that two or more numbers have in
common.
When thinking about finding the Greatest
Common Factor, or the GCF…
THINK BACKWARDS
F…Find the Factors
C…Circle Common Factors
G…Group Largest Factor
But if that’s too hard…
Simply THINK
G…Greatest (largest)
C…Common (shared)
F…Factor
Important to Remember…
24: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24
36: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36
12: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12
24: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24
42 : 1 2 3 6 7 14 21 42
77 : 1 7 11 77
30 cm 30 : 1 2 3 5 6 10 15 30
18 cm
18 : 1 2 3 6 9 18
Important to Remember…
LCM is 72.
Finding the LCM: Method 2 – Prime Factorization
Example 1: Find the LCM of 18, 24, and 36.
Step 1: Find the prime factorization of each number.
Step 2: Choose the larger number from each set
Finding the LCM: Method 3 – Prime Factorization
Example 1: Find the LCM of 18, 24, and 36.
Step 1: Find the prime factorization of each number.
Step 2: Choose the larger number from each set
18 : 2 x 3 x 3 = 2 x 32
24 : 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 = 23 x 3 Choose the
larger number
=
from each set.
36 : 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 22 x 32
LCM is 72. 23 x 32 = 72
GREATEST COMMON FACTOR
LEAST COMMON MULTIPLE