least common multiple
- noun
- /list ˈkɒmən ˈmʌltəpl/
- Specialized
- Since polyrhythms are deciphered through the least common multiple, many can be notated within a common meter.
What is the least common multiple of those two?
- What is the least common multiple of those two?
- So we can aim for the least common multiple.
Examples
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What is the least common multiple of those two?
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So really what it is you can always use is the least common multiple, the LCM.
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So least common multiple for our denominator.
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(In terms familiar to Western high school students, the least common multiple of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 is 210.)
Academic text (2003) -
We do so by case analysis on the reminders of s modulo the least common multiple of divisors, i.e., 15.
Academic text (2012) -
The least common multiple of 4 and 6 is 12, which is the smallest number both can divide into evenly.
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To find the least common multiple of 8 and 10, you can list their multiples and find the smallest one they share.
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In math class, we learned that the least common multiple is essential for adding fractions with different denominators.
Synonyms
The smallest number that each of the given numbers goes into evenly
The smallest number that all the given numbers divide evenly into
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'least' (smallest) modifies 'common multiple' (a multiple shared by the numbers), so the overall meaning 'smallest number that is a multiple of each number' follows directly from the constituents. This construction is cross-linguistically regular (e.g. Spanish 'mínimo común múltiplo') and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the component words.
Etymology
Least common multiple creates a simple image: imagine two people clapping at different rhythms, one every 4 beats and the other every 6. The times they clap together are the common multiples, and the very first of these is the least multiple, so the phrase means the 'smallest number' that both numbers share.