what is gcf

The greatest common factor (GCF) of two or more integers is the largest positive integer that divides each of the integers. It is the "greatest" thing for simplifying fractions. The GCF is often used to find common denominators and is very useful in simplifying complex math problems when moving on to more advanced material. To calculate the GCF, there are three common ways: division, multiplication, and prime factorization. For example, the GCF of 12, 20, and 24 is 4, as 4 is the largest factor that all the numbers share. The GCF is denoted as gcd(a, b) and is closely related to the least common multiple (LCM) .