Question

Find the GCF (greatest common factor) of the following terms.{4xy^2, 2x^2y^2, x^2y^2}

Answer 1

We need to find the GCF of

$\begin{gathered} 4xy^2 \\ 2x^2y^2 \\ \text{and} \\ x^2y^2 \end{gathered}$

Let's break apart the terms,

$\begin{gathered} 4xy^2=2\cdot2\cdot x\cdot y\cdot y \\ 2x^2y^2=2\cdot x\cdot x\cdot y\cdot y \\ x^2y^2=x\cdot x\cdot y\cdot y \end{gathered}$

We can see that the common factors to all 3 terms are x * y * y, which

$\begin{gathered} x\cdot y\cdot y \\ =xy^2 \end{gathered}$

Thus, the GCF of the 3 terms given is,

$xy^2$Answer$xy^2$