Lowest common multiple (LCM)
The abbreviation LCM used very commonly in maths stands for Lowest Common Multiple. Lowest common multiple of a list of numbers is the smallest (lowest) number that can be divided by all the numbers in the list.
In most cases to find the lowest common multiple of a list of numbers you would have to list all the multiples of all the numbers in the list and then find the smallest number that appears in all the multiples of the numbers you’ve found.
Finding the lowest common multiple
The following example shows how to find the lowest common multiple of a set of numbers.
Example:Find the lowest common multiple (LCM) of 6 and 7
Answer: The lowest common multiple (LCM) of 6 and 7 is 42
Explanation:First we list down all the multiples of 6 and 7 and then locate the lowest which appears in both lists.
Multiples of 6 are: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 42, 48, 54, 60, 66
Multiples of 7 are: 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63, 70, 77
Above we have managed to find that the lowest common multiple (LCM) of 6 and 7 is 42.
It’s that simple to find the lowest common multiple (LCM) of a list of numbers.
