Question

I don't understand how the highest common factor of two negative numbers is negative. How is it not positive? Can someone please help?

Answer 1

Common means similar/alike in this case. to have the highest common factor, you need it to be common with the two numbers. both numbers are negative, so the highest common factor is also negative.

remember, you aren't multiplying/dividing to get a product or quotient; you'r simply looking for a number.

i hope my explanation helped! x