What is the GCF of 36 72 144?

Answer 1

We first examine the prime factorization of each:

36=2*2*3*3

72=2*2*2*3*3

144=2*2*2*2*3*3

I have bolded all of the factors that they have in common, and the product of those factors is 36.

Another way to look at is to notice that:

36*1=36

36*2=72

36*4=144

And that all of them have 36 as a factor, but this is based more on instinct than method.

tl;dr gcf=36