What is the Greatest Common Factor of 12972 and 12987?

Greatest common factor (GCF) of 12972 and 12987 is 3.

GCF(12972,12987) = 3

We will now calculate the prime factors of 12972 and 12987, than find the greatest common factor (greatest common divisor (gcd)) of the numbers by matching the biggest common factor of 12972 and 12987.

How to find the GCF of 12972 and 12987?

We will first find the prime factorization of 12972 and 12987. After we will calculate the factors of 12972 and 12987 and find the biggest common factor number .

Step-1: Prime Factorization of 12972

Prime factors of 12972 are 2, 3, 23, 47. Prime factorization of 12972 in exponential form is:

12972 = 2² × 3¹ × 23¹ × 47¹

Step-2: Prime Factorization of 12987

Prime factors of 12987 are 3, 13, 37. Prime factorization of 12987 in exponential form is:

12987 = 3³ × 13¹ × 37¹

Step-3: Factors of 12972

List of positive integer factors of 12972 that divides 12972 without a remainder.

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 23, 46, 47, 69, 92, 94, 138, 141, 188, 276, 282, 564, 1081, 2162, 3243, 4324, 6486

Step-4: Factors of 12987

List of positive integer factors of 12987 that divides 12972 without a remainder.

1, 3, 9, 13, 27, 37, 39, 111, 117, 333, 351, 481, 999, 1443, 4329

Final Step: Biggest Common Factor Number

We found the factors and prime factorization of 12972 and 12987. The biggest common factor number is the GCF number.
So the greatest common factor 12972 and 12987 is 3.

Also check out the Least Common Multiple of 12972 and 12987