• Greatest Common Factor

     

    The Greatest Common factor is the largest term that you can take out of however many terms that you are given.  Write the prime factorization for the terms then multiply together the factors they have in common.
    ex.ample: 
      10x5
      25x3 
     
    10x5- 2*5*x*x*x*x*x
    25x3- 5*5*x*x*x
    both terms have a 5, x, x, x in common.
    If we multiplythese together we get...
    5x3 (the GCF)
    example:  
      8a2b6
      12ab
      20a5bc3
     
    8a2b6-  2*2*2*a*a*b*b*b*b*b*b
    12ab-  2*2*3*a*b
    20a5bc3- 2*2*5*a*a*a*a*a*b*c*c*c
    2*2*a*b= 4ab is the greatest common factor