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GCD

GCD

5.8
The largest number that divides two or more numbers exactly
  • symbol
  • Specialized
translation icon : MCD
  • The GCD of 12 and 18 is 6, which is the largest number that divides both numbers exactly.

Examples

  • You don't want to take the GCD of five and five, that's just five.

  • I'm going to take my denominator and divide by that same GCD I found casting to an int.

  • And by the way, to do GCD, you need to do remainder, and we'll show you how to do remainder.

  • This transition preserves the GCD that's left in the pair of registers X&Y.

  • To simplify the fraction, first find the GCD of the numerator and denominator.

  • Calculating the GCD helps in reducing fractions to their simplest form.

Synonyms

greatest common divisor
vsGCD
  • Specialized
5.5

The biggest whole number that divides two or more numbers exactly

is the shortened written form used as an abbreviation for that phrase
greatest common factor
vsGCD
  • Specialized
4.4

The largest number that divides evenly into two or more whole numbers without leaving a remainder

is the shortened written form of the technical phrase rather than the full wording
3.5

The largest positive whole number that divides two or more numbers exactly

is the shortened written form of the technical phrase, not the full expression

Surface Forms

GCD main

Morphology

GCD = greatest common divisor (opaque) = G + C + D

An abbreviation formed from initial letters; the letters alone do not indicate the mathematical concept to most learners.

Etymology

GCD stands for greatest common divisor. The words 'greatest' = 'biggest', 'common' = 'shared', and 'divisor' = 'a number that divides', so the GCD is the biggest number that divides two or more numbers exactly.