Find the least common multiple of these two expressions.

Question

Find the least common multiple of these two expressions.

 

6w^3u^7 and 9w^8u^6v^5

Answer 1

Well, the LCM of 6 and 9 is 18.

List multiples of the bigger one, so multiples of 9:  9,18,27,36,45....

Then find the first one in the list that divides by the other number(s), in this case, 6.

So the LCM of 6 and 9 is 18.

 

The LCM of w^2 and w^8 is w^8

 

The LCM of u^7 and u^6 is u^7

 

The first term does not contain the variable v, so v^5

 

So putting it all together , the LCM is 18*w^8*u^7*v^5