what is the lcm of 3 and 8
What is the LCM of 3 and 8?
Answer: To find the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of 3 and 8, follow these steps:
1. Prime Factorization:
- Determine the prime factorizations of the given numbers.
- The prime factorization of 3 is:3 = 3^1
- The prime factorization of 8 is:8 = 2^3
- The prime factorization of 3 is:
2. Identify the Highest Powers:
- Identify the highest powers of all prime numbers appearing in the factorizations.
- For prime number 2, the highest power is 2^3.
- For prime number 3, the highest power is 3^1.
3. Calculate the LCM:
- Multiply the highest powers of all prime factors together to get the LCM.\text{LCM} = 2^3 \times 3^1
- Calculate:2^3 = 83^1 = 3
- Therefore:\text{LCM} = 8 \times 3 = 24
- Calculate:
Conclusion:
The Least Common Multiple (LCM) of 3 and 8 is 24.