Least Common Multiple

Objectives
 describe the least common multiple of two numbers;
 solve the least common multiple of two numbers,
 apply this concept to solve word problems.

Materials

 Playing cards (2s-10s)

 Dry-erase board
 Dry-erase markers

Activity: WAR
Have students play a partner game of war with the first common multiples of
two numbers.
Procedures

1. Discuss the process to find the first common multiple for two numbers.
2. Divide the class into pairs, and provide each pair with playing cards, dry-erase
boards, and dry-erase markers.
3. Pairs will play a game of war using the playing cards to determine their first
common multiple.
4. Divide the deck of cards equally between the two players.
5. Each partner will draw two cards from their deck. They will figure out the first
common multiple for their numbers. For example, if a student drew cards 2
and 9, their first common multiple would be 18.
6. The partner with the highest first common multiple wins all the cards. If the
first common multiple is the same, then the students will draw two new cards
and repeat the process until the first common multiple are different.
7. The partner who wins all the cards first wins.

Analysis

1. What was difficult about this game?

2. How did you find the first common multiple for the two numbers being
drawn?
3. Why is it important to find the first common multiple of numbers?
4. What do you call the first common multiple for the two numbers?
5. Based on the activity, what is the least common multiple?

Abstraction

The Least Common Multiple of two numbers is the smallest positive integer that is
a multiple of both. It is denoted by ⟨ a , b ⟩ . There are 3 ways of getting the lcm of two
numbers – the listing method, factor tree method and continuous division
method.
We can figure out ⟨ a , b ⟩ once we have the prime factorization of a and b. To do that,
let
a a a b b b
a= p1 p 2 … . pm and b= p1 p 2 … . pm ,
1 2 n 1 2 n

Where (as above) we exclude any prime with 0 power in both

max ⁡( a b ) max ⁡(a b ) max (a b )
a∧b . Then ⟨ a , b ⟩= p1 1 1
p1 2 2
… pm n n
, wheremax( a , b) is the maximum of two
integers a and b.

To prove the theorem, we present a lemma.

Theorem 18. Let a and b be two positive integers. Then

1. ⟨ a , b ⟩ ≥ 0;
2. ⟨ a , b ⟩ =ab / (a, b);
3. If a|m∧b|m, then ⟨ a , b ⟩|m

Proof
The proof of part 1 ⟨ a , b ⟩ ≥ 0 follows from the definition.
As for part 2, ⟨ a , b ⟩ =ab /(a, b);
a a a b b b
Let a= p1 p 2 … . pm and b= p1 p 2 … . pm ,
1 2 n 1 2 n

m∈ ⁡( a b ) min ⁡(a b )
Notice that ( a , b )= p1 p2 … pmin
n
1⁡( a b )
2
and 2 2 n n

m ax ⁡( a1 b1) max ⁡(a2b2 ) m a x ( an b n )

⟨ a , b ⟩ = p1 p2 … pn then

m ∈⁡(a1 b2)
⟨ a , b ⟩ ( a , b )= pm1 ax ⁡(a b ) p m2 ax ⁡(a b ) … pmn ax ⁡( a b ) p1
1 1 2 2 n n
pm∈
2
⁡(a b )
2
… p m∈
2
n
⁡(a b ) n n

max ( a1 b1) +m∈ ⁡( a 1 b1 ) max (a2 b2 )+m ∈⁡(a2 b2) max ( an bn) +m∈ ⁡(an bn)
¿ p1 p2 … pm
⁡a 2 + b 2 ⁡¿¿
⁡a1+ ¿b p2 … pm ¿
¿ p1 1

⁡a1 ⁡a2 ⁡a n ⁡b1 ⁡b2 ⁡bn

¿ p1 p 2 … pm p1 p 2 … pm = ab

Example:

LCM = Product of the numbers / GCD

Numbers Product GCD LCM

2, 8 16 2 16 ÷2 = 8
9, 24 216 3 216 ÷ 3 = 72
6, 12 72 6 72 ÷ 6 = 12

For part 3: If a|m∧b|m, then ⟨ a , b ⟩|m ;

Example 1: Example 2:

2, 8; ⟨ 2, 8 ⟩ = 8 6, 9; ⟨ 6 , 9 ⟩ = 18

Solution: 2|16 , 8|16 ,then 8|16 Solution: 6|6 , 9|6 , then 18|6

Note also that we used Lemma 8 in the above equations.

Application
 Luke always drinks 8 oz of tsokolate milk, while Richie always drinks 12 oz
lawot with milk. What is the least number of glasses they could drink every day to
make sure that they get the same amount of calories from milk daily?

Assessment

Part I

Direction: Find the LCM by applying the theorem of finding the least common
multiple of the two numbers.

a) LCM (4, 10)

b) LCM (6, 21)

c) LCM (15, 18)

Part II.

Direction: Answer the given problem below.

d) Today, both the soccer team and the basketball team had games. The soccer

team plays every 3 days, and the basketball team plays every 5 days. When will both

teams have games on the same day again?