Calculate the Greatest Common Factor or GCF of 72 and 3438
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The instructions to find the GCF of 72 and 3438 are the next:
1. Decompose all numbers into prime factors
72 | 2 |
36 | 2 |
18 | 2 |
9 | 3 |
3 | 3 |
1 |
3438 | 2 |
1719 | 3 |
573 | 3 |
191 | 191 |
1 |
2. Write all numbers as the product of its prime factors
Prime factors of 72 | = | 23 . 32 |
Prime factors of 3438 | = | 2 . 32 . 191 |
3. Choose the common prime factors with the lowest exponent
Common prime factors: 2 , 3
Common prime factors with the lowest exponent: 21, 32
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. 32 = 18
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