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Greatest common factorDefinition: The greatest common factor (GCF) is the largest factor of two numbers. An understanding of factor is important in order to understand the meaning of GCF. When two or more numbers are multiplied in a multiplication problem, each number is a factor in the multiplication. Take a look at the following multiplication problem: 2 times 8 times 3. 2 is a factor. 8 is also a factor. You can find all factors of a number by finding all numbers that divide the number. Find all factors of 36: Start with 1. 1 divide 36, so 1 is a factor. 2 divides 36, so 2 is factor 3 divides 36, so 3 is a factor. If you continue with this pattern, you will find that 1,2,3,4,6,9,12,18,and 36 are all factors of 36. An easier way to handle the same problem is to do the following: 1 times 36 =36 2 times 18 = 36 3 times 12 =36 4 times 9=36 6 times 6 =36 9 times 4 =36. Note:When the factors start to repeat, you have found them all. In our example above, the factors started to repeat at 9 times 4 =36 because you already has 4 times 9 =36. Therefore, we have found them all. Now that you have understood how to get the factors of a number, it is going to be straightforward to to get the greatest common factor. Whenever you are talking about greatest common factor, you are referring to 2 or 3 numbers. Here, we will concern ourselves with just 2 The GCF of two numbers is the largest factor of the two numbers. For instance, find GCF of 16 and 24 written as GCF(16,24). The factors for 16 are 1, 2, 4, 8,and 16 The factors for 24 are 1,2, 3,4,6,8,12, and 24. The largest factor for both numbers have in common is 8, so GCF(16,24) = 8. Find GCF(7,12) The factors for 7 are 1 and 7. The factors for 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4,6,and 12 The largest number both factors have in common is 1, SO GCF(7,12)=1
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