What is the greatest common factor of 48 and 60 and why
The greatest common factor (GCF) is the largest factor that two or more numbers have in common.
To find the GCF of 48 and 60, we list the factors of each number:
Factors of 48: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 48
Factors of 60: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60
From the lists, we see that the common factors of 48 and 60 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. The largest of these common factors is 12.
Therefore, the greatest common factor of 48 and 60 is 12.