Least Common Multiple of two Numbers

There are various mathematical concepts and terms that are to be learnt. The term LCM stands for least common multiple. This is an operation and can be carried out on two integers. The answer we obtain is the least common multiple. This denotes the least number that is fully divisible by both the integers.

Now how to find LCM is the question. It is a rather an easy task and can be performed if one is familiar with the basic arithmetic operations of mathematics and number theory. Division is the operation that is most frequently used. So, one must be confident in the division of two numbers.  So, to understand how to find the least common multiple one must be thorough be with the basic concepts in mathematics otherwise it would be really tough to proceed ahead.

So, what is LCM and how can be it found out. The numbers are selected first, for which it has to be found out. Then they are divided by a common number which should be able to divide all the numbers chosen completely. The number which is not divisible by the common number is written as it is for the next step to be performed. In the next again the numbers are divided by a number which is able to divide all the chosen numbers and this continues till ‘1’ is obtained at the end of all the steps of division. The numbers chosen are divided several times till ‘1’ is obtained in the end. Then the product of all the numbers which were used for division is obtained and this gives the least common multiple of the chosen numbers in the beginning.

So, what is the LCM of ‘3’ and ‘2’ is a question that must be answered and can explain the concept better. First a number which divides both ‘2’ and ‘3’ have to be found out. Since there is no common number that divides both ‘2’ and ‘3’ their product is found out. On multiplying ‘2’ and ‘3’, ‘6’ is obtained. So, ‘6’ is the least common multiple of ‘2’ and ‘3’. If two numbers are not divisible by a common number in the beginning itself, then their product itself is the least common multiple of the two. This is apt in the case of two prime numbers. In the example both ‘2’ and ‘3’ are prime numbers.