Question

What’s the lowest common multiple (LCM) of 7 and 8?

Answer 1

Hint: We need to determine the least common multiple of 7 and 8 in this scenario. We must first understand that least common multiples refers to the smallest number that two numbers can both reach, or the common multiple between two integers. We know that 7 and 8 are the least common multiples since they have the smallest common factor. We can now determine the Least Common Multiple number (LCM).

Complete step-by-step solution:
We must identify the least common multiple of 7 and 8 in this case. The smallest number that two numbers can both get to, or the common multiple between two numbers, is known as the least common multiple. Make a list of the multiples of 7 and 8 and choose the most common and least common.
So, we can write one by one multiples of 7 then we write multiples of 8 for clear understanding.
We can now write the multiple of 7, we get:
$$\Rightarrow 7,14,21,28,35,42,45,56,63.......$$
We can now write the multiple of 8, we get:
$$\Rightarrow 8,16,24,32,40,48,56,64,72.......$$
Here we can see that 56 is the smallest number which is common to the multiple of 7 and 8.
Therefore, the least common multiple of 7 and 8 is 56.

Note: We should keep in mind the concept of the least common multiple, which refers to the minimum number that two numbers can both reach for the common multiple between two integers. We should be aware that there are several methods for determining the least common multiple, including multiple listing, prime factorization, and division.