What is the greatest common factor of 18 and 24?

To find the greatest common factor (GCF) of 18 and 24, we start by identifying the factors of each number.

The factors of 18 are: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18

The factors of 24 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24

Next, we look for the factors that both numbers share:

• The common factors of 18 and 24 are 1, 2, 3, and 6.

Among these common factors, the greatest one is 6. This means that 6 is the highest number that can evenly divide both 18 and 24, confirming it as the greatest common factor.

Finding the GCF can also be approached using prime factorization:

• The prime factorization of 18 is (2 \times 3^2).
• The prime factorization of 24 is (2^3 \times 3).

The common prime factors are 2 and 3. The lowest power of each common prime factor gives us the GCF:

• For 2, the lowest power common in both factorizations is (