Question

What is the greatest common factor of x and x square?

Answer 1

x

Explanation:

The greatest common factor (GCF) of two or more polynomial expressions is the polynomial with the largest degree that is a factor of their polynomials.

`\textsf{ The prime factorization of x is }\sf x = x^1`

`\textsf{ The prime factorization of $\sf x^2 $ is $ \sf x^2$ }`

`\textsf{ The only factor that x and $ \sf x^2 $ share is x, which has a degree of 1.}`

Therefore, the GCF of x and x^2 is x.

Answer 2

Answer: x

For instance, if x = 7 then x^2 = 49. The GCF of 7 and 49 is 7.

For x and x^2, both have the common factor x. Think of x^2 as x*x.