Least Common Multiple

1. Definition. The least common multiple of two positive integers a and b, de-
noted by [a, b] is the smallest possible integer that is divisible by a and b.
2. Let x, y are two numbers. We define the maximum, denoted by max, and the
minimum, denoted by min, as follows:
• max{x, y} = x if x ≥ y and max{x, y} = y if y ≥ x.
• min{x, y} = x if x ≤ y and min{x, y} = y if y ≤ x.
3. Exercise. What is max{x, y} + min{x, y}?
4. [Finding the GCD and LCM] Let a = pa11 pa22 · · · pann and b = pb11 pb22 · · · pbnn be
any two positive integers, and each pi is prime, and each exponent is positive
or zero.
(a) The greatest common divisor of a and b is
min{a1 ,b1 } min{a2 ,b2 } n ,bn }
p1 p2 · · · pmin{a
n .

(b) The least common multiple of a and b is

max{a1 ,b1 } max{a2 ,b2 } n ,bn }
p1 p2 · · · pmax{a
n .

5. Theorem. If a and b are positive integers, then

ab
[a, b] = .
(a, b)
6. Exercise. Prove that every common multiple of the positive integers a and b
is divisible by the least common multiple of a and b.
7. Exercise. Which pairs of integers have greatest common divisor 18 and least
common multiple 540?
8. Exercise. Prove that if a and b are positive integers, then (a, b)|[a, b]. When
does (a, b) = [a, b].
9. Exercise. Prove that if a and b are positive integers, then there are divisors c
of a and d of b with (c, d) = 1 and cd = [a, b].
10. Exercise. Prove that if a, b, and c are integers, then [a, b]|c if and only if a|c
and b|c.
11. Exercise. (a.)Prove that if a and b are integers, then (a, b) = (a + b, [a, b]).
(b.) Find the two positive integers with sum 798 and least common multiple
10780.