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A rectangular bulletin board is 12 inches tall and 27 inches wide. Elena plans to cover it with squares of colored paper that are all the same size. The paper squares come in different sizes; all of them have whole-number inches for their side lengths.

What is the side length of the largest square that Elena could use to cover the bulletin board completely without gaps and overlaps? Explain or show your reasoning.

User Dr Ganjoo
by
5.3k points

2 Answers

5 votes

Answer:

the aswer is 26

Explanation:

User DarkSquid
by
5.4k points
5 votes

9514 1404 393

Answer:

3 inches

Explanation:

The dimension of interest is the greatest common factor of 12 and 27.

12 = 3 · 4

27 = 3 · 9

The greatest common factor is 3.

Elena needs squares that are 3 inches on each side.

User Vladimir Alexiev
by
5.4k points