greatest common factor
- noun
- /ˈɡreɪtɪst ˈkɒmən ˈfæktər/
- Specialized
:
máximo común divisor
- The greatest common factor of 12, 30, and 54 is 6.
That was the greatest common factor of both terms.
- That was the greatest common factor of both terms.
Examples
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The greatest common factor of 24 and 36 is 12.
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That was the greatest common factor of both terms.
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Let them discover the greatest common factor.
Blog text (17) -
And the GCF is pretty much identified as the greatest common factor, the number that divides into both of those terms.
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The greatest common factor between 75 and 105 is 15.
Synonyms
The biggest whole number that divides two or more numbers exactly
The largest positive whole number that divides two or more numbers exactly
The largest number that divides two or more numbers exactly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'greatest' (largest), 'common' (shared by the numbers), and 'factor' (a number that divides another exactly) combine to yield the largest number that divides all the given integers. This mathematical compound follows a transparent, cross-linguistically common naming pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will very likely infer the correct meaning.
Etymology
Greatest common factor creates a clear picture: imagine two piles of blocks and you want to split each pile into equal small groups. The factor is the size of each group, common means it works for both piles, and greatest means the biggest such group, so it is the 'largest number that divides' both numbers exactly.
