GCSE Maths – Number

Factors, Multiples and Primes

NOTES SOLUTIONS

This worksheet will show you how to work out different types of questions on
factors, multiples and primes. Each section contains a worked example, a
question with hints and then questions for you to work through on your own.

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 Section A

Worked Example

Find the highest common factor of 40 and 24

Step 1: Find all the factors of the first number.

Factors of 40:

1 and 40 would be the definite 1st and last factors of 40 respectively.

Start finding factors from 1 working your way upwards - remember factors come in pairs.

Multiplying the numbers together in each row leads to the number 40.
8 and 5 are repeated, when this happens, all the factors have been found.

Therefore, the factors are: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40

Step 2: Repeat Step 1 for all other numbers in the question.

Factors of 24:

6 and 4 are repeated which means all factors have been found.

Therefore, the factors are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24

Step 3: Find all the common factors and then find the highest common factor (HCF)

Common factors: 1, 2, 4, 8

Therefore, the highest common factor is 8.

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 Guided Example

Find the highest common factor of 36, 12 and 78

Step 1: Find all the factors of the first number.

Step 2: Repeat step one for all other numbers in the question.

Step 3: Find all the common factors and then find the highest common factor ( HCF )

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 Now it’s your turn!
If you get stuck, look back at the worked and guided examples.

1. Find the common factors of 27 and 45.

2. Find the highest common factor of 19, 39 and 52.

3. Find the lowest common factor of 88, 50, 65.

4. Find the highest common factor of 𝑥𝑥 and 𝑦𝑦 where:

𝑥𝑥 = 2 ✕ 2 ✕ 2 ✕ 3 ✕ 3 ✕ 5
𝑦𝑦 = 2 ✕ 3 ✕ 3 ✕ 5

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 Section B

Worked Example

Find the lowest common multiple of 9 and 12

Step 1: Write out multiples of the numbers until a common multiple is found.

9 9 18 27 36
12 12 24 36 …

Therefore, 36 is the lowest common multiple.

Guided Example

Find the lowest common multiple of 2, 4 and 7

Step 1: Write out multiples of the numbers until a common multiple is found.

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 Now it’s your turn!
If you get stuck, look back at the worked and guided examples.

5. Find the lowest common multiple of 3, 4 and 9.

6. Find the lowest common multiple of 45, 60 and 180.

7. Find two numbers with the lowest common multiple of 36.

8. A blue light flashes every 8 seconds, a red light flashes every 12 seconds and a
green light flashes every 14 seconds.
a) After how much time does all the three lights flash together?
b) When will all the lights flash together for the third time?

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 Section C

Worked Example

Using a factor tree, find the prime factorisation of 48

Step 1: Divide the number into two factors.

Step 2: Divide these factors into further factors until each factor at the end of the tree is a prime
factor which hence, cannot be divided further.

Step 3: Write out all the prime factors.

48 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 2 × 2 = 𝟑𝟑 × 𝟐𝟐𝟒𝟒

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 Guided Example

Find the prime factorisation of 64

Step 1: Divide the number into two factors.

Step 2: Divide these factors into further factors until each factor at the end of the tree is a prime
factor which, hence, cannot be divided further.

Step 3: Write out all the prime factors.

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 Now it’s your turn!
If you get stuck, look back at the worked and guided examples.

9. Find the prime factorisation of 56.

10.
a) Find the prime factorization of 45 and 60.
b) Using answer to part (a), find the highest common factor of 45 and 60.

11. Suppose 𝑤𝑤 = 22 × 3 × 5.
Find the prime factorisation of 36𝑤𝑤.

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