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2 (a) Find the Highest Common Factor (HCF) of 60 and 84 - Edexcel - GCSE Maths - Question 3 - 2021 - Paper 2

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2 (a) Find the Highest Common Factor (HCF) of 60 and 84. (b) Find the Lowest Common Multiple (LCM) of 24 and 40.

Worked Solution & Example Answer:2 (a) Find the Highest Common Factor (HCF) of 60 and 84 - Edexcel - GCSE Maths - Question 3 - 2021 - Paper 2

Step 1

Find the Highest Common Factor (HCF) of 60 and 84

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Answer

To find the HCF of 60 and 84, we first find the prime factorization of both numbers:

  • 60:

    • Start with 2: 60 ÷ 2 = 30
    • 30 ÷ 2 = 15
    • 15 ÷ 3 = 5
    • Therefore, the prime factors are: 2² × 3¹ × 5¹
  • 84:

    • Start with 2: 84 ÷ 2 = 42
    • 42 ÷ 2 = 21
    • 21 ÷ 3 = 7
    • Therefore, the prime factors are: 2² × 3¹ × 7¹

Now, we find the common factors: 2² and 3¹. The HCF is the product of the lowest powers of all common prime factors:

HCF=22×31=4×3=12HCF = 2^2 × 3^1 = 4 × 3 = 12

Step 2

Find the Lowest Common Multiple (LCM) of 24 and 40

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Answer

To find the LCM of 24 and 40, we again start with the prime factorization:

  • 24:

    • 24 ÷ 2 = 12
    • 12 ÷ 2 = 6
    • 6 ÷ 2 = 3
    • So, the prime factors are: 2³ × 3¹
  • 40:

    • 40 ÷ 2 = 20
    • 20 ÷ 2 = 10
    • 10 ÷ 2 = 5
    • So, the prime factors are: 2³ × 5¹

For the LCM, we take the highest powers of all prime factors:

  • From 24: 2³, 3¹
  • From 40: 2³, 5¹

Thus, the LCM is: LCM=23×31×51=8×3×5=120LCM = 2^3 × 3^1 × 5^1 = 8 × 3 × 5 = 120

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