What is the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) of 24 and 36?

To find the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) of 24 and 36, we can start by determining the prime factorization of each number.

For 24, the prime factorization is:

• 24 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3, or simply expressed as (2^3 \times 3^1).

For 36, the prime factorization is:

• 36 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3, or expressed as (2^2 \times 3^2).

The next step is to identify the common factors in these factorizations. We look for the lowest power of each prime factor that appears in both numbers:

• For the prime factor 2, the lowest power in both factorizations is (2^2).

• For the prime factor 3, the lowest power is (3^1).

Now, we multiply these common factors together to find the GCF:

• GCF = (2^2 \times 3^1 = 4 \times 3 = 12).

Therefore, the Greatest Common Factor of 24 and 36 is 12. This means that 12 is the largest