Greatest Common Factors
To reduce fractional answers, we need to find a greatest common factor.
Factors of a number are simply numbers that are multiplied together to get an answer or
product. For example, 6 × 9 = 54. The number 54 is the product of the factors 6 and 9.
The “product†means the answer of a multiplication.
We use multiplication to find the factors of a whole number.
Example:
What is the greatest common factor of 12 and 18?
Factors of 12 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12.
Factors of 18 are: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 18.
The numbers in bold are common factors of 12 and 18.
Answer: The greatest common factor is 6.
- The letters GCF are often used for the term greatest common factor.
Do any two numbers always have a common factor? No! For example, if both numbers
are prime then they cannot have a common multiple.
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