HIGHEST COMMON FACTOR| CUET L-4

HCF – Highest Common Factor

HCF or Highest Common Factor is the greatest number which divides each of the two or more numbers. HCF is also called the Greatest Common Measure (GCM) and Greatest Common Divisor(GCD). HCM and LCM are two different methods, where LCM or Least Common Multiple is used to find the smallest common multiple of any two or more numbers.

What is HCF?

The full form of HCF is Highest Common Factor. HCF of two numbers is the highest factor that can divide the two numbers, evenly. HCF can be evaluated for two or more than two numbers.  It is the greatest divisor for any two or more numbers, that can equally or completely divide the given numbers.

How to Find HCF?

We can find the HCF of any given numbers by using two methods:

by prime factorization method

by division method

Let us discuss these two methods one by one in this article.

HCF By Prime Factorization Method

Follow the below-given steps to find the HCF of numbers using the prime factorisation method.

Step 1: Write each number as a product of its prime factors. This method is called here prime factorization.

Step 2: Now list the common factors of both the numbers

Step 3: The product of all common prime factors is the HCF ( use the lower power of each common factor)