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What is LCM

2 years ago

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505 Replies

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14724 views

I

Iftikhar


please explain it briefly

505 Answers

A
Afsana Hassan

LCM stands for Lowest Common Multiple.


This means when you are given two numbers, what is the lowest number in BOTH of their times tables.


For example:


If they asked you to find the Lowest common Multiple of 10 and 15, you would write their times tables out like so:


10 15

20 30

30


As you can see, both of them have 30 in their times table (30 is a multiple of both 10 and 15) which means that it is their LCM.


Hope this helps! :)

Abdul R Profile Picture
Abdul R Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Masters graduate in Chemical Engineering

LCM stands for Lowest Common Multiple


For example,


Question: What is the lowest common multiple between (LCM) between 6 and 10 ?


Answer: 30


Explanation:

you have to find a number that is a multiple of 6 and 10 but it has to be a multiple of the two and the lowest value possible. So,


6 x 1 = 6 10 x 1 = 10

6 x 2 = 12 10 x 2 = 20

6 x 3 = 18 10 x 3 = 30

6 x 4 = 24 10 x 4 = 40

6 x 5 = 30 10 x 5 = 50


From the timestable you can see that 30 is the lowest common multiple between 6 and 10. 60 is also a multiple if you continue the timestable but that is not the lowest value. Therefore, its important you always take the lowest value



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Ms Huang Profile Picture
Ms Huang Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

An experienced maths/mandarin tutor to help you to go beyond yourself!

LCM stands for Lowest Common Multiple for two or more numbers in Maths. For example, to find the LCM of number 6 and 4, we can

step1: write down the multiples of each number from the smallest onwards

step2: find out the first number that is a multiple of both numbers


So you working will be like this:

Multiples of 4: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24...

Multiples of 6: 6, 12, 18, 24...


As you can see, numbers 12, 24 and propably more if we write down more occured in above lists and they are all the common multiples of 4 and 6. Among all these, 12 is the smallest or lowest, so

12 is the lowest Common Multiple of 4 and 6, that is to say

LCM of 4 and 6 = 12



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H
Hannah Totman

The answer is Least Common multiple.


The LCM of two or more numbers is the smallest number that is evenly divisible by all numbers in the set.


For example:


By prime factorisation method, we can write 8 and 10 as the product of prime numbers, such that;

8 = 2 × 2 × 2 

10 = 2 × 5

LCM (8, 10) = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 = 40


Faraz H Profile Picture
Faraz H Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

to infinity and beyond!

In maths LCM is the lowest common multiple of two numbers.


If you have two numbers say 3 and 4 the LCM of these two numbers would be 12.

This can be explained by:

Multiples of 3 = 3,6,9,12,15,18...

Multiples of 4 = 4,8,12,16,20,24...


The common multiples off 3 and 4 are 12,24 etc and the lowest of these common multiples is 12 hence the LCM is 12

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M
Melissa K

This is the Lowest Common Multiple

L
Linda C

LCM stands for Lowest Common Multiple. This means the smallest number that is in the times tables of a set of numbers. Eg.


What is the LCM of 5 and 14?


Write out the multiples of 5 and the multiples of 14 :


5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75


14, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84, 96


The smallest number that is in both is 70 so the LCM of 5 and 14 is 70.


I hope that helps.


As you practice more you will find shortcuts. In this example, if you had written the multiples of 14 first you should have been able to find the LCM without writing out the multiples of 5. How? All multiples of 5 end in 0 or 5. And the first multiple of 14 that meets that criteria is 70!


M
Monika Chaulagain

Lowest common multiple.

Yumna H Profile Picture
Yumna H Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Maths & Science Tutor Supporting GCSE and KS3 students

LCM is the lowest common multiple. Let's go step by step:

What does multiple mean?

This is jut basically the multiplication tables.

For example:

The multiples of 3 is 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27

Multiples of 4 is 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24


So now back to the question. Say they ask you a question like this:

What is the LCM of 4 and 3?

First we write the multiples of 4 and 3 which is:

4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32

3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27


now we compare both the multiples and find what the common multiples are.

above you can see that 12 and 24 are common. But since LCM means the "lowest" common multiple, we have to select the lowest number which is 12.

12 is the LCM of 4 and 3.


Basically LCM is just writing down the multiples and then selecting the lowest common multiple between the numbers.


I hope this helped you out. For more help you can join my classes and we can clear off more doubts.

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Baoji L Profile Picture
Baoji L Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Maths Tutor, Cambridge Undergrad, Top 0.05% of Australian Grads (2019)

LCM stands for the lowest common multiple, for two or more numbers. The LCM of a and b is the smallest number that is divisble by both a and b. For example, the LCM of 4 and 10 is 20, as 20 is the lowest number that is divisible by both 4 and 10.

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Z
Zainab Khalid

 the LCM of any two is the value that is evenly divisible by the two given number

D
Doha

Lowest Common Multiple

H
Hina Farooq

LCM is the lowest common multiple. In other words it’s the smallest possible multiple of 2 or more numbers. Hope that helps :)

D
Damilola

Every number has multiples. The multiples of a number can be gotten by the continuous addition of that number to itself. E.G, the multiples of 3 are 3,6,9,12,15, ...etc.

LCM- Lowest/least common multiple

for any two numbers, their LCM is just the least of their multiples which they both have in common.

E.G 3 and 7- if you list out the multiples of 3 and 7, then it is seen that both of them have 21 as a common multiple, also note that there is no common multiple of 3 and 7 that is lower than 21. so LCM of 3 and 7 is 21

Nayil A Profile Picture
Nayil A Verified Sherpa Tutor ✓

Experienced maths teacher and tutor( 7 years) for KS1-5, SEN and 11+

LCM refers to the "Lowest Common Multiple", you are looking for the lowest positive integer for which it appears in the times table of two or more numbers.

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