Question

What is the GCF of `12r^2, 15rs, 9r^2s^2`?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

We can factor each of the terms as:

`12r^2 = 2 xx 2 xx 3 xx r xx r`

`15rs = 3 xx 5 xx r xx s`

`9r^2s^2 = 3 xx 3 xx r xx r xx s xx s`

We can now identify the common factors in all three terms:

`12r^2 = 2 xx 2 xx color(red)(3) xx color(red)(r) xx r`

`15rs = color(red)(3) xx 5 xx color(red)(r) xx s`

`9r^2s^2 = color(red)(3) xx 3 xx color(red)(r) xx r xx s xx s`

Therefore the Greatest Common Factor is:

`"GCF" = color(red)(3) xx color(red)(r) = 3r`