lowest common multiple
- noun
- /ˈloʊwɪst ˈkɒmən ˈmʌltɪpl/
- Specialized
:
mínimo común múltiplo
- The teacher explained that the lowest common multiple of the numbers 3, 5, and 15 is 15.
Examples
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In mathematics, the lowest common multiple helps students understand how different numbers can be combined.
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The control group was trained in a traditional algorithm-based approach in which a common denominator is selected by finding the lowest common multiple of existing denominators. The respective numerators are adjusted appropriately, and the resulting fractions are added or subtracted as prescribed.
Academic text (1996) -
To find a common solution, we calculated the lowest common multiple of 4 and 6, which is 12.
Synonyms
The smallest number that two or more numbers divide evenly into
The smallest number that all the given numbers divide evenly into
Surface Forms
Morphology
Interpreting 'lowest' in its numeric sense as 'smallest,' 'common' as 'shared,' and 'multiple' as a number that is an integer multiple yields the compositional meaning 'the smallest number shared by the set.' This semantic assembly is cross‑linguistically common (e.g. Spanish mínimo común múltiplo, French plus petit commun multiple) and follows transparent composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the meaning despite it being a technical mathematical term.
Etymology
The term lowest common multiple comes from a simple picture: you write the multiples of each number, the numbers you get when you multiply, and look for numbers that are common to the lists, then pick the lowest one. So it means 'the smallest number that each given number can divide into with nothing left over'.
