What is the least common factor of 6 and 42?

To answer the question, "What is the least common factor of 6 and 42?", we will start by defining and listing factors of 6 and 42.

Factors of 6 are all the integers that when multiplied by another integer equal 6. Likewise, factors of 42 are all the integers that when multiplied by another integer equal 42.

The factors of 6 are 1, 2, 3, and 6.

The factors 42 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, and 42.

When you ask, "What is the least common factor of 6 and 42?", least is the key word here. Least means smallest. Thus, the smallest or least common factor that 6 and 42 have in common is 1.

Note that all integers, such as 6 and 42, have 1 as one of its factors. Thus, the answer to the least common factor of any two integers greater than 0 will always be 1.

Now that you know the least common factor of 6 and 42, you may also be interested in knowing the greatest common factor of 6 and 42. The greatest factor 6 and 42 have in common, per the list above, is 6.

When you asked for the least common factor of 6 and 42, did you mean least common multiple? If so, the least common multiple of 6 and 42 is 42.

Least Common Factor Calculator
Need the least common factor for another set of numbers? Please submit your numbers here:

What is the least common factor of 6 and 43?
Go here for the next least common factor problem on our list.