Final answer:
The greatest common factor (GCF) of the given expressions 20y^2 w^3 v^5 and 16y^8 w^6 is 4y^2 w^2.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the greatest common factor (GCF) of the given expressions, we need to factorize both expressions and identify the common factors.
Let's start with the first expression, 20y^2 w^3 v^5.
We can factorize it as 2 * 2 * 5 * y * y * w * w * w * v * v * v * v * v.
Now let's factorize the second expression, 16y^8 w^6.
It can be broken down as 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * y * y * y * y * y * y * y * y * w * w * w * w * w * w.
Comparing the two factorizations, we can see that the common factors are 2 * 2 * y * y * w * w.
Therefore, the GCF of the given expressions is 4y^2 w^2.