What is the least common factor of 9 and 12?

To answer the question, "What is the least common factor of 9 and 12?", we will start by defining and listing factors of 9 and 12.

Factors of 9 are all the integers that when multiplied by another integer equal 9. Likewise, factors of 12 are all the integers that when multiplied by another integer equal 12.

The factors of 9 are 1, 3, and 9.

The factors 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12.

When you ask, "What is the least common factor of 9 and 12?", least is the key word here. Least means smallest. Thus, the smallest or least common factor that 9 and 12 have in common is 1.

Note that all integers, such as 9 and 12, 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 9 and 12, you may also be interested in knowing the greatest common factor of 9 and 12. The greatest factor 9 and 12 have in common, per the list above, is 3.

When you asked for the least common factor of 9 and 12, did you mean least common multiple? If so, the least common multiple of 9 and 12 is 36.

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