GCSE Maths – Number

Factors, Multiples and Primes

Worksheet

NOTES SOLUTIONS

This worksheet will show you how to work out different types of questions on
factors, multiples and primes. Each section contains a worked example, a
question with hints and then questions for you to work through on your own.

This work by PMT Education is licensed under https://bit.ly/pmt-cc

https://bit.ly/pmt-edu-cc CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
 Section A

Worked Example

Find the highest common factor of 40 and 24

Step 1: Find all the factors of the first number.

Factors of 40:

1 and 40 would be the definite 1st and last factors of 40 respectively.

Start finding factors from 1 working your way upwards - remember factors come in pairs.

Multiplying the numbers together in each row leads to the number 40.
8 and 5 are repeated, when this happens, all the factors have been found.

Therefore, the factors are: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40

Step 2: Repeat Step 1 for all other numbers in the question.

Factors of 24:

6 and 4 are repeated which means all factors have been found.

Therefore, the factors are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24

Step 3: Find all the common factors and then find the highest common factor (HCF)

Common factors: 1, 2, 4, 8

Therefore, the highest common factor is 8.

 Guided Example

Find the highest common factor of 36, 12 and 78

Step 1: Find all the factors of the first number.

Step 2: Repeat step one for all other numbers in the question.

Step 3: Find all the common factors and then find the highest common factor ( HCF )
 Now it’s your turn!
If you get stuck, look back at the worked and guided examples.

1. Find the common factors of 27 and 45.

3 4
⑨15x
Qx27
, ,

Qx45
-
12

2. Find the highest common factor of 19, 39 and 52.

52
39-
2
I

19

QX39 O1X52
-

Qx19 3x13
2x26
4x13
3. Find the lowest common factor of 88, 50, 65.

-
88
1x65
=
0 .

# 88 2x25 5X13
2x44 5X10
4422
8x4
4. Find the highest common factor of and where:

0000
=2 22 3 3 5
0000
=23 3 5 i X3

Act 2 x 3x3x5
:
=
90 ·

-
 Section B

Worked Example

Find the lowest common multiple of 9 and 12

Step 1: Write out multiples of the numbers until a common multiple is found.

9 9 18 27 36
12 12 24 36 …

Therefore, 36 is the lowest common multiple.

Guided Example

Find the lowest common multiple of 2, 4 and 7

Step 1: Write out multiples of the numbers until a common multiple is found.

LM : 2x2

-
*
I
I
I
7
 Now it’s your turn!
If you get stuck, look back at the worked and guided examples.

5. Find the lowest common multiple of 3, 4 and 9.

324
93x3x4 ,

= 3

6. Find the lowest common multiple of 45, 60 and 180.

LCm : 5x3x344

A =

= M
10.
?
Find two numbers with the lowest common multiple ofOn , y
X
7. 36.
↓
3 -

#
2x6 x3
LCM :

36
⑬36
:
.
-

#
⑰
8. A blue light flashes every 8 seconds, a red light flashes every 12 seconds and a
green light flashes every 14 seconds.
a) After how much time does all the three lights flash together?
-

b) When will all the lights flash together for the third time?

a T68s-lot find

e
b
.

168x3 =

504s
2x2x2x3X7 2168
3
x2)z 504
T5J
 -
Section C

Worked Example

Using a factor tree, find the prime factorisation of 48

-
O
Step 1: Divide the number into two factors.

⑤
-

Step 2: Divide these factors into further factors until each factor at the end of the tree is a prime
factor which hence, cannot be divided further.

Step 3: Write out all the prime factors.

.......
48 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 2 × 2 =
×
 Guided Example

Find the prime factorisation of 64

satt
Step 1: Divide the number into two factors.

232
Step 2: Divide these factors into further factors until each factor at the end of the tree is a prime
factor which, hence, cannot be divided further.

z
1
32

248
224-2
Step 3: Write out all the prime factors.
2
64 = 26
 Now it’s your turn!
If you get stuck, look back at the worked and guided examples.

9. Find the prime factorisation of 56.

56
1- 56 = 7x23
> 8
( -
42
10. 22
a) Find the prime factorization of 45 and 60.
b) Using answer to part (a), find the highest common factor of 45 and 60.

4360 45 = 5X32
- -
17
95512 60 = 3x22x5
/

35 / Method b :

6 b .
15 -

s EX3560
11. Suppose D
= 2 × 3 × 5. HCF :

zi
Find the prime factorisation of 36 .

36w = 36XW
36w=
X
6 6 36 w

/
1
24x3x5
3
232 =