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Common Divisor for Dummies

noun

pronunciation: 'kɑmən_dɪ'vaɪzər

What does Common Divisor really mean?

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Common divisor is a term used in mathematics to describe a number that can be divided evenly into two or more numbers. Let me explain this in a way that's easy to understand, okay?

Imagine you have a big chocolate bar and you want to share it equally with your friends. Each friend wants to get the same amount of chocolate. In order to do that, you need to break the chocolate bar into smaller pieces. Now, a common divisor would be a number of small chocolate pieces that can be divided evenly among all your friends.

Let's say you have 12 small chocolate pieces and you want to give them to your two friends equally. What is the maximum number of pieces that each friend can get? Well, if you divide the 12 pieces into groups of 2, each friend will get 6 pieces. So, here, 2 is the common divisor of 12 and 6 because it divides both numbers evenly.

But wait, there's more! Common divisor doesn't have to be the biggest number that divides evenly into two or more numbers. You can have other common divisors as well. Taking the same example, we found that 2 is a common divisor of 12 and 6. Guess what? 1 is also a common divisor because it divides both numbers evenly. Each friend would get 12 pieces if you divide it into groups of 1. So, in this case, 1 is also a common divisor.

So, to sum it up, a common divisor is a number that can be divided evenly into two or more numbers, just like breaking a chocolate bar into smaller pieces to share. And it doesn't have to be the biggest number, even the smallest number that divides evenly can be a common divisor.

Revised and Fact checked by James Lee on 2023-10-28 06:10:07

Common Divisor In a sentece

Learn how to use Common Divisor inside a sentece

  • A common divisor of 6 and 9 is 3, because both 6 and 9 can be divided evenly by 3.
  • The numbers 12 and 18 have 1, 2, 3, and 6 as common divisors, because they can be divided evenly by these numbers.
  • If we have two bags with 15 and 20 candies respectively, a common divisor could be 5, because we can divide both numbers of candies equally into 5 groups.
  • When we have a puzzle with pieces that can form a square with sides of 8 and 12 units, a common divisor would be 4, since 8 and 12 can be divided evenly by 4.
  • In a garden, there are rows of flowers arranged in rows of 10 and 15. A common divisor in this case would be 5, as we can evenly divide both 10 and 15 by 5.

Common Divisor Synonyms

Words that can be interchanged for the original word in the same context.

Common Divisor Hypernyms

Words that are more generic than the original word.

Common Divisor Hyponyms

Words that are more specific than the original word.