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Greatest Common Factor

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Greatest Common Factor

Calculate the Greatest Common Factor or GCF of 32, 42, 56 and 86

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The instructions to find the GCF of 32, 42, 56 and 86 are the next:

1. Decompose all numbers into prime factors

32	2
16	2
8	2
4	2
2	2
1

42	2
21	3
7	7
1

56	2
28	2
14	2
7	7
1

86	2
43	43
1

2. Write all numbers as the product of its prime factors

Prime factors of 32	=	2⁵
Prime factors of 42	=	2 . 3 . 7
Prime factors of 56	=	2³ . 7
Prime factors of 86	=	2 . 43

3. Choose the common prime factors with the lowest exponent

Common prime factors: 2

Common prime factors with the lowest exponent: 2¹

4. Calculate the Greatest Common Factor or GCF

Remember, to find the GCF of several numbers you must multiply the common prime factors with the lowest exponent.

GCF = 2¹ = 2

Also calculates the:

Least Common Multiple or LCM of 32, 42, 56 and 86

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