Given natural numbers to be written as the product of prime factors. To obtain the highest common factor multiply all the common prime factors with the lowest degree (power).
Example :
EXd the HCF of 20 and 12 by the prime factorization method.
solution:
step 1: To find HCF of 20 and 12, write each umber as a product of prime factors.
20 = 2 × 2 × 5 = 22 x 5
HCF of 20 and 12 = 22 = 4
12 = 2 × 2 × 3 = 24 x 3
Step 2: Multiply all the common prime factors with the lowest degree.
Here we have only 2 as a common prime factor with the lowest power of 2.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Given natural numbers to be written as the product of prime factors. To obtain the highest common factor multiply all the common prime factors with the lowest degree (power).
Example :
EXd the HCF of 20 and 12 by the prime factorization method.
solution:
step 1: To find HCF of 20 and 12, write each umber as a product of prime factors.
20 = 2 × 2 × 5 = 22 x 5
HCF of 20 and 12 = 22 = 4
12 = 2 × 2 × 3 = 24 x 3
Step 2: Multiply all the common prime factors with the lowest degree.
Here we have only 2 as a common prime factor with the lowest power of 2.
HCF of 20 and 12 = 22 = 4