Question

What is the greatest common factor of the two expressions? 7a^2 8a^3b^2

Answer 1

Answer:

a²

Step-by-step explanation:

(see attached for reference)

We can find GCF by expressing each expression into their prime factors

7a² = 7 x a x a

8a³b² = 8 x a x a x a x b x b

by observation, we can see that a x a or a² shows up in both expressions, highlighted in bold here:

7a² = 7 x a x a

8a³b² = 8 x a x a x a x b x b

Hence the greatest common factor is a x a = a²