how to use GCF and the distributive property to write 24+40

Question

You have to write 24+40 as a product.

Answer 1

The factors of:

    24:   1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14

    40:   1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40

 

The greatest (the largest) common (in both lists) factor (something multiplied to give the value), the GCF, is 8.

 

You could also write just the prime factors:

     24:      2 * 2 * 2 * 3

     40:      2 * 2 * 2 * 5

   The most shared factors are (2*2*2=8).

 

Factoring out 8, using the distributive property, we have:

     24 + 40 = 8*(3 + 5)