LCM and HCF Formulas

June 30, 2020

Formula

LCM and HCF Formula

LCM and HCF formulas, properties and important ways to solve LCM and HCF Questions are given below on this page below.

Formulas

Formula PrepInsta

Property 1 – LCM x HCF = Product of two numbers

H.C.F. and L.C.M. of Fractions:

    1. H.C.F. =H.C.F. of Numerators
L.C.M. of Denominators
    2. L.C.M. =L.C.M. of Numerators
H.C.F. of Denominators

Property 2 – LCM ≥ Numbers ≥ HCF

Property 3- LCM is a multiple of HCF

Property 4 – If the HCF of two numbers is 1 then they are Co-Primes.

How to calculate LCM and HCF, is given below later on this page.

What are Multiples –

Multiple are series of numbers that are exactly divisible by a particular number. e.g. 8, 12, 16, 20 …. are the multiples of 4.

What are Factors –

Factors for a given number are the list of numbers that would divide the larger number without leaving any remainder(Except 1 and number itself) eg. for 12 the factors would be 2, 3, 4, 6

  • For 6 – 12, 18, 24, 30 will be called as multiple of 6.
  • For 24 – 6 and 12 are Factors of 24.

What is LCM Lowest Common Multiple – 

As the name suggests LCM is the lowest common multiple of two or more Natural Numbers for e.g. for 15 and 20, 60 is LCM(Don’t worry we will explain how we calculated this)

What is HCF Highest Common Factor or Greatest Common Divisor(GCD) –

The Largest(Highest) common Factor of two or more numbers will be called as HCF of the number. e.g. for 12 and 15. 3 will be the HCF.

Prime Factors –

These are unique list prime numbers that divide the greater number e.g. for 20 – 2, 5 are the prime Factors(Don’t worry below you will find how to get these)

Formula PrepInsta

Calculating Prime Factors –

In this method, you take the lowest prime number and see if the greater number is divisible by it. If its not divisible then you move to the higher prime number.

Let us show you how to calculate the prime factors for number step by step.

Prime Factors of 12 –

  • Lowest Prime number 2, 12 ÷ 2 = 6
  • Again 6 ÷ 2 = 3
  • Again 3 ÷ 2 is not possible so next prime number is 3
  • Again 3 ÷ 3 = 1

We can write this as 12 = 2x2x3 = 22 × 3

Formula PrepInsta

Finding LCM of two Numbers –

Let us take an example HCF of 15 and 20, first we list out all the prime factors of each

15 = 3 x 5

20 = 2 x 2 x 5 = 22 × 5

Then multiply each factor by the greatest number of times it occurs in either number.

  • 2 – Occurs 2 times
  • 3 – Occurs 1 time
  • 5 – Occurs 1 time

So LCM is (2×2)x(3×1)x(5×1) = 60

Formula PrepInsta

Finding HCF of two Numbers

Let us take an example HCF of 18 and 24, we already have listed out all the prime factors of each number

18 = 2 x 3 x 3

24 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 = 23 × 3

Now we find the factor that exists at least once in both of them.

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