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1.3 HCF & LCM using primes

Factor trees can be used to express a number as a product of its prime factors. These can
then be used to nd the highest common factor (HCF) or lowest common multiple (LCM) of
sets of numbers.

Prime factors and divisibility tests

Click here to review using factor trees to nd prime factors.

Click here to review how to test if numbers are divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 or 11.

Find highest common factor

The HCF of two large numbers is the product of the prime factors that are common to
both the numbers.

EXAMPLE
Find the HCF of 144 and 324 by using prime factors.

SOLUTION

From the factor trees:

144 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3

324 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3

The prime factors that are common to both numbers are in red. These factors are:
2, 2, 3, 3.

HCF = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3
= 36

Click Widget to see another example using this technique.

Mutually prime

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If numbers have no prime factors in common, then their highest common factor is 1. These
types of numbers are called mutually prime.

Find lowest common multiple

The LCM of two large numbers is the product of the largest set of multiples of each
prime factor.

EXAMPLE
Find the LCM of 24 and 300.

SOLUTION

Underline the largest set of multiples of each prime factor:

300=2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5
24 =2 × 2 × 2 × 3

List these and multiply them to nd the LCM.

LCM = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5
= 600

Print Hotsheet to practise nding the HCF and LCM for large numbers.

Click Solutions to check your answers when you have nished the Worksheet.

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