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How do I find the greatest common factor of two positive integers by listing factors?

To find the GCF by listing factors, list all positive factors of the first number, list all positive factors of the second number, identify the factors that appear in both lists, and select the largest number from the common factors.

Conditions

  • The inputs are positive integers.
  • Listing is practical for the small examples; it is not asserted to be the fastest method.

Reasoning, step by step

  1. List all positive factors of the first number.
  2. List all positive factors of the second number.
  3. Compare the two lists to find shared elements (common factors).
  4. Select the largest value from the set of common factors.

Example

Factors of 12: {1,2,3,4,6,12}\{1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12\}. Factors of 42: {1,2,3,6,7,14,21,42}\{1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42\}. Common factors: {1,2,3,6}\{1, 2, 3, 6\}. The largest is 6, so the GCF is 6.

Common misconceptions

  • Assuming this is the fastest method for very large integers.
  • Forgetting to check for the largest common factor and stopping at the first one found.

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