Question

Gina had two pieces of rope one piece 15 feet long the other pieces is 18 feet long. He wants to cut them so that each piece is the same with nothing left over. what is the greatest length of the pieces that he can make?

Answer 1

Given:

He wants to cut them so that each piece is the same with nothing left over.

Required

The greatest length of the pieces that he can make

The greatest length of the pieces that he can make is the highest common factor of 15 and 18 feet long pieces of rope.

Expressing 15 and 18 as a product of its prime factors:

`\begin{gathered} 15\text{ = 3 }*\text{ 5} \\ 18\text{ = 2}*3*3 \end{gathered}`

Thus, the highest common factor is 3.

The greatest length of the pieces that Gina can make is 3 feet.