GCF LCM

Use the Ladder Method to find the following

1) Find the greatest common factor of: 12 & 20

2) Find the greatest common factor of: 42 & 18
3) Find the greatest common factor of: 12 & 14
4) Find the greatest common factor of: 6 & 30
5) Find the greatest common factor of: 30 & 24
6) Find the greatest common factor of: 21 & 30
7) Find the least common multiple. 3 & 8
8) Find the least common multiple. 6 & 11
9) Find the least common multiple. 10 & 8
10) Find the least common multiple. 6 & 2
11) Find the least common multiple. 12 & 5
12) Find the least common multiple. 2 & 5

@Class
Factors and Prime Factorization

Find the prime factorization for each of the following whole numbers. Show ALL work. Use exponents
when necessary.

1) 48 2) 63 3) 40 4) 100 5) 24 6) 54

Greatest Common Factor Explanation (Using Prime Factorization)

Use the prime factorization of two numbers to find the greatest common factor.

1. Use a factor tree to write the prime factorization of the first number.
2.Use a factor tree to write the prime factorization of the second number.
3. List the common prime factors of the two numbers.
4. Multiply the common prime factors to get the GCF of the two numbers.

Example: Find the GCF of 12 and 18.

12 = 2•2•3
18 = 2•3•3
Common Prime Factors = 2•3 GCF = 6

@Class
1. Find the GCF of 14 and 21.
2. Find the GCF of 12 and 18.
3. Find the GCF of 30 and 75.

Greatest Common Factor Theory (Use Venn diagrams to find the greatest common factor of two
numbers).

1.List the prime factorization of each number.

2.Write the common prime factors in the center of the Venn diagram.
3.Multiply the common prime factors to get the GCF.

@Class : (Use Venn Diagrams)

4. Find the GCF of 15 and 45.

5. Find the GCF of 56 and 40.

LCM theory
Methods to Finding LCM

Method 1: Use a list

1. List several multiples of each number.
2. Find the smallest multiple the numbers have in common.
3. If you cannot find an LCM, continue listing the multiples.

Ex 1:

Method 2: Use prime factorization

1. Write the prime factorization of each number in exponential form.
2. Write down all of the bases that appear in each prime factorization (if they appear in both, only write
them once).
3. Write the highest power exponent for each of the bases.

4. Multiply the expression to get the LCM. Ex 2:

Method 3: Use the “L” Method.

1. Make an L shape and put both numbers inside.

2. Find a number that evenly divides into both numbers. Place this number on the left side of the L.

3 12 15 3. Divide the number and place the solutions under the L shape.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 if the numbers still have a common factor.
5. Multiply all the numbers that are outside of the L shape.
The product is the LCM. 3 x 4 x 5 = 60
**The LCM of 12 and 15 is 60.**

@Home - Use Prime Factorization or List method

1. Find the LCM of 10 and 15.

2. Find the LCM of 14 and 12.
3. Find the LCM of 8 and 6.
4. Find the LCM of 8 and 12.
5. Find the LCM of 9 and 15.
6. Find the LCM of 16 and 12.
7. Find the LCM of 24 and 36.
8. Find the LCM of 21 and 63.

@Class - GCF LCM Word Problems

1. At the gym, Hillary swims every 6 days, runs every 4 days and cycles every 16 days. If she did all
three activities today, in how many days will she do all three activities again on the same day?

2. Oscar needs to ship 14 rock CDs, 12 classical CDs, and 8 pop CDs. He can pack only one type of CD
in each box and he must pack the same number of CDs in each box. What is the greatest number of
CDs Oscar can pack in each box?

3. I want to plant 45 sunflower plants, 81 corn plants and 63 tomato plants in my garden. If I put the
same number of plants in each row and each row has only one type of plant, what is the greatest number
of plants I can put in one row?

4. Cups are sold 6 to a package and plates are sold 8 to a package. If you want to have the same
number of each item for a party, what is the least number of packages of each you need to buy?

5. A full moon occurs every 30 days. If the last full moon occurred on a Friday, how many days will pass
before a full moon occurs again on a Friday?
@Home

Solve each word problem by finding GCF or LCM.

1. Pencils come in packages of 10. Erasers come in packages of 12. Phillip wants to purchase the
smallest number of pencils and erasers so that he will have exactly 1 eraser per pencil. How
many packages of pencils and erasers should Phillip buy?
a. 4 packages of pencils and 3 packages of erasers
b. 5 packages of pencils and 4 packages of erasers
c. 6 packages of pencils and 5 packages of erasers
d. 12 packages of pencils and 10 packages of erasers
2. Kiara baked 30 oatmeal cookies and 48 chocolate chip cookies to package in plastic containers
for her friends at school. She wants to divide the cookies into identical containers so that each
container has the same number of each kind of cookie. If she wants each container to have the
greatest number of cookies possible, how many plastic containers does she need?
3. Boxes that are 12 inches tall are being stacked next to boxes that are 18 inches tall. What is the
shortest height at which the two stacks will be the same height?

4. Beginning at 8:30 A.M., tours of the National Capitol and the White House begin at a tour agency.
Tours for the National Capitol leave every 15 minutes. Tours for the White House leave every 20
minutes. How often do the tours leave at the same time?

1. Every 15 minutes
2. Every 30 minutes
3. Every 45 minutes
4. Every 60 minutes

5. Two neon lights are turned on at the same time. One blinks every 4 seconds and the other blinks
every 6 seconds. In 60 seconds, how many times will they blink at the same time?

6. The table below shows the number of students in the school choir.

The choir teacher plans to arrange the students in equal rows. Only girls or boys will be in each row.
What is the greatest number of students that could be in each row?

A. 16 B. 12 C. 8 D. 4

7. At a display booth at an amusement park, every visitor gets a gift bag. Some of the bags have
items in them as shown in the table below.

How often will a bag contain all three items?

A. Every 14 bags
B. Every 19 bags
C. Every 70 bags
D. Every 140 bags

8. Bridget has swimming lessons every fifth day and diving lessons every third day. If she had a
swimming lesson and a diving lesson on May 5, when will be the next date on which she has
both swimming and diving lessons?
1. Multiples of 4: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52. 6: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54. 16:
16, 32, 48 In 48 days she will do all three on the same day. 2. Factors of 14: 1, 2, 7, 14 12: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6,
12 8: 1, 2, 4, 8 He can pack 2 CDs in each box. 3. Factors of 45: 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 45 81: 1, 3, 9, 27, 81 63:
1, 3, 7, 9, 21, 63 He can put 9 in each row. 4. Multiples of 6: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54. 8: 8, 16, 24,
32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72 He needs to buy at least 24 of each, so 4 packages cups and 3 plates. He needs
to buy 4 packages of cups and 3 packages of plates. 5. To find a common multiple, we can multiply 30
days by 7 days in a Week (to end up on Friday again). 30 x 7 = 210 It will take 210 days.

@Home

GCF and LCM Word Problems

Answer Key

1. 10 – 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60

12 – 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 LCM = 60
 60 ÷ 10 = 6 packages of pencils
60 ÷ 12 = 5 packages of erasers Answer Choice: C

2. 30 – 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30
48 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 48 GCF = 6

Kiara needs 6 plastic containers for her cookies.

3. 12 – 12, 24, 36
18 – 18, 36 LCM = 36

The two stacks will be the same height at 36 inches.

4. 15 – 15, 30, 45, 60

20 – 20, 40, 60 LCM = 60

The tours leave at the same time every 60 minutes. (Answer Choice: C)

5. 4 – 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24

6 – 6, 12, 18, 24 LCM = 24

60 ÷ 24 = 2.5

In 60 seconds, the lights will blink twice at the same time.

6. 48 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 48

64 – 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 GCF = 16 (Answer Choice: A)

7. 2 – 2, 4, 6, 8, 10…70
7 – 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63, 70
10 – 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 GCF = 70 (Answer Choice: C)

8. 5 x 3 = 15 LCM = 15
5 + 15 = 20

Bridget will have both swimming and diving lessons on May 20th.