Greatest Common Factor of 36 and 20

GCF(36, 20) = 4, Greatest common factor of 36 and 20 is 4. Greatest Common Factor or Greatest Common Divisor of two numbers is the largest integer by which both the numbers can be divided. There are two different methods to calculate Greatest Common Factor of 36 and 20. Greatest Common Factor by prime factorization method and Greatest Common Factor by matching factors method.

Greatest Common Factor of 36 and 20 by prime factorization method

We will first find the prime factorization of 36 and 20.
Prime Factorization of 36 is 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 and Prime Factorization of 20 is 1, 2, 2, 5.

  • Factorize\( (36) = \) \(1\times 2\times 2\times 3\times 3\)
  • Factorize\( (20) = \) \(1\times 2\times 2\times 5\)
Now we need to find any which are common for each number (1, 2, 2) and multiply these numbers together.
\(GCF(36, 20) = 1\times 2\times 2 = 4\).

Greatest Common Factor of 36 and 20 by matching factors method

List of positive integers factors of 36 leaving a remainder zero is 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 36
List of positive integers factors of 20 leaving a remainder zero is 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20
As you can see, 4 is the greatest and common number that 36 and 20 divides into.
So the greatest common factor 36 and 20 is 4.
\(GCF(36, 20) = 4\).

If you want to learn more about greatest common divisor, take a look at the Wikipedia page.
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