Using VENN Diagrams and Prime Factors to calculate

Highest Common Factor (HCF) and Lowest Common Multiple (LCM)

Find the Highest Common Factor and Lowest Common Factor of

1) 18 and 42

HCF = LCM =

2) 25 and 75

HCF = LCM =

3) 30 and 105

HCF = LCM =

4) 28 and 126

HCF = LCM =
 Highest Common Factor & Lowest Common Multiple
HCF
Find the Highest Common Factor of these numbers:
1. 18 and 30 5. 28 and 70
2. 15 and 20 6. 39 and 65
3. 16 and 24 7. 38 and 57
4. 12 and 36 8. 20 and 30

9. Jack thinks of two numbers, the HCF of these numbers is 6 and one of the numbers is 24
suggest what his other number may have been.

10. Put the following sets of numbers in order of their HCF, from lowest to highest:
a) 12, 15 and 18 f) 7, 21 and 42
b) 15, 10 and 6 g) 16, 8 and 20
c) 8, 16 and 24 h) 105, 210 and 5
d) 4, 6 and 24
e) 27, 18 and 45

11. Danielle says that the bigger a number the more factors it has. Is she right? Use examples
to justify your answer.

LCM
Find the Lowest Common Multiple of these numbers
1. 6 and 7
2. 4 and 6
3. 5 and 8
4. 10 and 4
5. 16 and 5
6. 14 and 21
7. 2.2 and 5
8. 0.4 and 7

9. The lowest common multiple of two numbers is 36, one number is 12, what might the other
number be?

10. What is the LCM of 15 and 10 multiplied by the LCM of 6 and 20?

11. What is the LCM of 18 and 12 divided by their HCF?

Ext: If you add up all of the factors of 6 (not including 6 itself) you get the number 6,
this makes 6 a perfect number. How many perfect numbers can you find? Challenge the
person next to you.
 Prime Decomposition

Section A
Write the following numbers as products of their Prime Factors. Use a Factor Tree as you were
shown and remember to simplify the answer using Indices.

1a) 20 b) 25 c) 60 d) 18

e) 100 f) 40 g) 80 h) 160

Compare your answers to f, g and h – what do you notice? Why is this the case?

Section B – Harder numbers!

1a) 155 b) 210 c) 1200 d) 525

e) 123 f) 512 g) 1024 h) 2048

Section C
Break down each pair of numbers. What do you notice about the answer to the original number, and
the square of it (the second number)?
a)i) 6 ii) 36

b)i) 10 ii) 100

c)i) 12 ii) 144

d)i) 20 ii) 400

Section D
Can you explain why these numbers are harder to break down? They are NOT Primes and the
answer is not just ‘because they’re bigger’! Section B had some bigger numbers which were ok!

a) 187

b) 667

c) 3293

d) 496933
 Prime Decomposition

Section A – Just numbers

Using the method shown, work out the Highest Common Factor (HCF) and Lowest
Common Multiple (LCM) of the following sets of numbers…

a) 20 and 45
b) 42 and 70
c) 120 and 130
d) 36 and 40
e) 120, 160 and 180

Section B – Worded Questions

a) Two trains travel on separate tracks. The first train completes a circuit of its
track in 4.5 hours; the second train completes a circuit of its track in 6 hours.
How many hours will have passed and how many laps will each train have
completed when they next meet?

b) Two comets both passed earth together in 1980. One orbits the earth once
every 75 years. The other has an orbital period of 21 years. When is the next
year they will both pass together?

(HINT: You need to work out either the HCF or LCM)

c) A large patio is a rectangle measuring 48ft by 140ft. What are the dimensions
of the largest square tile that can be used to pave the whole patio?

(HINT: You need to work out either the HCF or LCM)

Section C – Prime Decomposition and Square numbers

a) Write 12 as a product of its prime factors

b) Write 144 as a product of its prime factors
c) What do you notice about b) compared to a)?

d) What is 28 as a product of its Prime Factors?

e) So what would 282 be as a Product of its prime factors?
f) What about 283? Try to explain your reasoning…
g) So what is the smallest number you could multiply 28 by to get a square
number?
 Worded Questions

1. Mrs. Evans has 120 crayons and 30 pieces of paper to give to her students. What is the
largest number of students she can have in her class so that each student gets equal
number of crayons and equal number of paper.
2. Rosa is making a game board that is 16 inches by 24 inches. She wants to use square
tiles. What is the largest tile she can use?
3. KissFM gave £100 note to every 100th caller. Every 30th caller received free concert
tickets. How many callers must get through before one of them receives both a coupon
and a concert ticket?
4. Two bikers are riding a circular path. The first rider completes a round in 12 minutes. The
second rider completes a round in 18 minutes. If they both started at the same place and
time and go in the same direction, after how many minutes will they meet again at the
starting point?
5. Sean has 8-inch pieces of toy train track and Ruth has 18-inch pieces of train track. How
many of each piece would each child need to build tracks that are equal in length?
6. I am planting 50 apple trees and 30 peach trees. I want the same number and type of
trees per row. What is the maximum number of trees I can plant per row?

1. Mrs. Evans has 120 crayons and 30 pieces of paper to give to her students. What is the
largest number of students she can have in her class so that each student gets equal
number of crayons and equal number of paper.

2. Rosa is making a game board that is 16 inches by 24 inches. She wants to use square
tiles. What is the largest tile she can use?

3. KissFM gave £100 note to every 100th caller. Every 30th caller received free concert
tickets. How many callers must get through before one of them receives both a coupon
and a concert ticket?

4. Two bikers are riding a circular path. The first rider completes a round in 12 minutes. The
second rider completes a round in 18 minutes. If they both started at the same place and
time and go in the same direction, after how many minutes will they meet again at the
starting point?

5. Sean has 8-inch pieces of toy train track and Ruth has 18-inch pieces of train track. How
many of each piece would each child need to build tracks that are equal in length?

6. I am planting 50 apple trees and 30 peach trees. I want the same number and type of
trees per row. What is the maximum number of trees I can plant per row?
 HCF and LCM Word Problems

1. Pencils come in packages of 10. Erasers come in packages of 12. Phillip wants to
purchase the smallest number of pencils and erasers so that he will have exactly 1
eraser per pencil. How many packages of pencils and erasers should Phillip buy?

2. Kiara baked 30 oatmeal cookies and 48 chocolate chip cookies to package in plastic
containers for her friends at school. She wants to divide the cookies into identical
containers so that each container has the same number of each kind of cookie. If
she wants each container to have the greatest number of cookies possible, how
many plastic containers does she need?

4. Beginning at 8:30 A.M., tours of the National Capitol and the White House begin at a tour
agency. Tours for the National Capitol leave every 15 minutes. Tours for the White
House leave every 20 minutes. How often do the tours leave at the same time?

5. Two neon lights are turned on at the same time. One blinks every 4 seconds and the
other blinks every 6 seconds. In 60 seconds, how many times will they blink at the
same time?

6. The table below shows the number of students in the school choir.

School Choir
Students Number
Girls 48
Boys 64

The choir teacher plans to arrange the students in equal rows. Only girls or boys will be
in each row. What is the highest number of students that could be in each row?

7. At a display booth at an amusement park, every visitor gets a gift bag. Some of the
bags have items in them as shown in the table below.

Items in the Gift Bags

Items Bags
Hat Every 2nd visitor
T-shirt Every 7th visitor
Backpack Every 10th visitor

How often will a bag contain all three items?

A. Every 14 bags
B. Every 19 bags
C. Every 70 bags
D. Every 140 bags
 Functional HCF and LCM Questions
Highest Common Factor
1. Liz has two pieces of string, one 18 cm long and the other 24 cm long. She
wants to cut them up to produce smaller pieces of string that are all of the same
length, with no string left over. What is the greatest length, in cm, that she can
make them?

.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................

Answer ........................ cm
(Total 2 marks)

2. A carpenter has two lengths of wood; one is 108cm long and the other is 72cm
long. He wants to cut them up to produce smaller pieces of wood to build a
shelving unit so they all need to be the same length, with no wood left over.
What is the greatest length, in cm, that he can make the shelves?
.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................

Answer ........................ cm
(Total 2 marks)
3. A plumber has three lengths of copper pipe; one is 220cm, another is 348cm and
the other is 104cm long. He wants to cut them up to produce smaller pipes to use
in boilers so they all need to be the same length, with no copper left over. What
is the greatest length, in cm, that he can make the pipes?
.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................
Answer ........................ cm
(Total 2 marks)
4. A seamstress has three colours of ribbon; the red is 126cm, the blue is 196cm
and the green is 378cm long. She wants to cut them up so they are all the same
length, with no ribbon wasted. What is the greatest length, in cm, that she can
make the ribbons?

.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................
 Answer ........................ cm
(Total 2 marks)

Lowest Common Multiple

1. Helen is organising a party and she needs party plates and straws.
There are 30 party plates in a pack.
There are 120 straws in a pack.
She needs exactly the same number of plates as straws.
What is the minimum number of each pack she must buy?
You must show all your working.

.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................
Answer: ........................ packs of plates and....................... packs of straws
(Total 3 marks)

2. A school purchases workbooks in packs of 25 and text books in packs of 15. The
school needs exactly the same number of workbooks as textbooks so they can
be paired up for the students.
What is the minimum number of each pack that must be bought so that all the
books are paired?
You must show all of your working.

.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................

Answer:.................. packs of workbooks and...................... packs of

textbooks
(Total 3 marks)

3. Tom, Sam and Matt are counting drum beats.

Tom hits a snare drum every 4 beats.
Sam hits a kettle drum every 10 beats.
Matt hits a bass drum every 12 beats.
Tom, Sam and Matt start by hitting their drums at the same time.
How many times are each of their beats heard before Tom, Sam and Matt next
hit their drums at the same time?

.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................

Answer: Tom beats .......... times, Sam beats ......... times and Matt beats...........
times
(Total 3 marks)
 HCFs, LCMs and Prime Factors
1. (a) Write 28 as the product of its prime factors.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer...............................................................................
(2)

(b) Find the least common multiple (LCM) of 28 and 42.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer...............................................................................
(2)
(Total 4 marks)

2. (a) Write 18 as the product of its prime factors.

……………………………………………….....…………………………………….

……………………………………………….....…………………………………….

……………………………………………….....…………………………………….

Answer ………………………………
(2)

(b) What is the least common multiple (LCM) of 12 and 18?

……………………………………………….....…………………………………….

……………………………………………….....…………………………………….

Answer ……………………………….
(1)
(Total 3 marks)

3. (a) Express 36 as a product of its prime factors.

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

Answer ................................................
(3)
 (b) Find the Highest Common Factor (HCF) of 36 and 60.

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

.....................…………………………………………………………………………

Answer ................................................
(2)
(Total 5 marks)

4. (a) Express 144 as the product of its prime factors.

Write your answer in index form.

.....................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................. ...

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.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer ..................................................................
(3)

(b) Find the Highest Common Factor (HCF) of 60 and 144.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer ..................................................................
(2)
(Total 5 marks)

5. Express 120 as the product of its prime factors.

Give your answer in index form.

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

Answer ............................................................
 (Total 3 marks)

6. When written as the product of prime factors 225 32  5 2

(a) Write 150 as the product of prime factors.

Give your answer in index form.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer ……………………………………………………
(3)

(b) Work out the highest common factor (HCF) of 225 and 150.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer ……………………………………………………
(2)
(Total 5 marks)

7. Express 360 as a product of its prime factors.

Give your answer in index form.

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

Answer .....................................................
(Total 3 marks)

8. Jenny is organising a barbecue.

There are 30 bread rolls in a pack.
There are 16 sausages in a pack.
She needs exactly the same number of bread rolls as sausages.
What is the smallest number of each pack she must buy?
You must show all your working.

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

Answer ........................ packs of rolls

 and ....................... packs of sausages
(Total 3 marks)

9. Tom, Sam and Matt are counting drum beats.

Tom hits a snare drum every 2 beats.

Sam hits a kettle drum every 5 beats.
Matt hits a bass drum every 8 beats.

Tom, Sam and Matt start by hitting their drums at the same time.
How many beats is it before Tom, Sam and Matt next hit their drums at the same time?

.................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................

Answer .............................................................. beats

(Total 2 marks)

10. Polly Parrot squawks every 12 seconds.

Mr Toad croaks every 21 seconds.
They both make a noise at the same time.

After how many seconds will they next make a noise at the same time?

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

Answer …………………………………………… seconds

(Total 2 marks)

a
11. (a) 24 can be written as 24 = 2 × 3

What is the value of a?

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer a = .................................................................................................................
(1)

(b) A box measures 24 cm by 18 cm by 15 cm.

The box is to be filled with cubes of equal size.

What is the length of the side of the largest cube that could be used to fill the box?

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

Answer .................................................... cm
(2)
(Total 3 marks)