Suppose a store owner has 879 apples and 486 oranges and wants to package them into identical fruit baskets so that every basket contains an equal number of each item without leaving any remainder. What is the maximum number of identical fruit baskets that can be made, and how many of each item will be in each basket?
GCD Problem and Solution:
step 1 Address the method, input parameters and values:
Integers: 879, 486
Find GCD(879 and 486) = ?
step 2 Find the prime factors of all integers in the group:
879 = 3 x 293
486 = 2 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3
step 3 Identify the common prime factors:
The common prime factors shared by all integers (879, 486) are: 3.
step 4 Multiply the common prime factors to find the greatest common factor:
GCD(879, 486) = 3 = 3.
step 5 Real-world conclusion:
The maximum number of identical fruit baskets that can be made is 3.
Each basket will contain 293 apples and 162 oranges.
GCD(879, 486) = 3