Find the GCF (greatest common factor) of the following terms.
{60xy, 12xy^2, 24}
To find the GCF of the terms 60xy, 12xy^2, and 24, we need to look for the highest factor that divides each term.
First, let's factor each term:
60xy = 2 * 2 * 3 * 5 * x * y
12xy^2 = 2 * 2 * 3 * x * y * y
24 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 3
We can see that the factors 2, 2, and 3 are all common to each term. Also, the variables x and y are present in each term, but the highest power of y that is common to each term is y, as y^2 is only present in the second term.
Therefore, the GCF of 60xy, 12xy^2, and 24 is 2 * 2 * 3 * y, which simplifies to 12y.