By Fatskills Exam Guides Team — the exam nerds behind 28,500+ quizzes and 2.1M practice questions across 500+ global exams.
(1) Divide the large number by the smaller. (2) In the next step divide the previous divisor by the previous remainder. Continue with the process till you end up with a remainder 0. The LAST divisor when the remainder becomes 0 is the HCF of the 2 numbers. Applying it to the given problem we get. If two numbers a and b are given, if their LCM and HCF are L and H respectively, then L i.e.,product of LCM and HCF of two numbers =product of numbers themselves. Example Find the LCM and HCF of and LCM = HCF = Example Find the LCM and HCF of and . Simplify both the fractions to their lowest forms i.e., Now the LCM And the HCF Note: Do not directly apply the formula if the fractions are not in their simplest form. The applications of LCM and HCF galore. You would come across it in a practically the entire arithmetic. Some Fundamental Applications Example A heap of coconuts is divided into groups of 2, 3 and 5 and each time no coconut is left over. Find the least number of coconuts in the heap. Let X be the number of coconuts desired. X must be a common multiple of 2, 3 and 5, otherwise some coconuts will be left over. Further, the number X must be the least possible number. So X has to be the LCM of 2, 3, 5 which is 30. So the least number of coconuts in the heap is 30.
Join 4M+ learners. Unlock unlimited quizzes, wrong-answer tracking, flashcards + reminders, study guides, and 1-on-1 challenges.