what is the gcf of 9 and 12

The greatest common factor (GCF) of 9 and 12 is 3. This means that 3 is the largest positive integer that divides both 9 and 12 without leaving a remainder. There are several methods to find the GCF, including prime factorization, long division, and the Euclidean algorithm. When using prime factorization, the prime factorization of 9 is 3 × 3, and the prime factorization of 12 is 2 × 2 × 3. By comparing the prime factorization of both numbers, we find that the common prime factor is 3, resulting in a GCF of 3.