Casey and Stephanie are planning a birthday party. They order a rectangular sheet cake that measures 24 inches by 18 inches. All
pieces of cake must be square with none left over. What is the side length of the largest square pieces into which Casey and Stephanie can cut the cake?
If Casey and Stephanie order a rectangular cake of dimension 24in by 18in, to get the side length of the largest piece of square, we will find the greatest common factor of both dimension as shown:
24 = 2 * 2 * (2 * 3)
24 = (2 * 3) * 4
24 = 6*4
18 = (2*3)*3
18 = 6*3
From both factors you an see that the common GCF is 6. This shows that the length of the largest square pieces into which Casey and Stephanie can cut the cake is 6 inches.
