Question

Interpret the highest common factor HCF of two positive integer and find the highest common factor of the following pairs of numbers but 32 and 54.

Answer 1

\(\begin{array}{c|c}2&32\\\hline2&16\\\hline 2&8\\\hline 2&2\\\hline&1\end{array}\)    \(\begin{array}{c|c} 2&54\\\hline3&27\\\hline3&9\\\hline3&3\\\hline &1\end{array}\)

Prime factorisation of 32 & 54 is 

32 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2

54 = 2 x 3 x 3 x 3

∴ HCF(32, 54) = 2.