In mathematics, you may have gone from many terms, and LCM is one of them that describes the least common value of multiples.

Multiples are the procedure of multiplying two integers and getting the results.

It is a little tricky to find the least common multiples, but one can also use calculators.

Before going into details, let’s talk about LCM and its work in mathematics.

What is LCM?

The term LCM stands for least common multiple. It is the smallest multiple of two positive integers that can be divided by both values.

Let x and y are two integers, and their LCM is z. So that means z can be divided by both a and y.

It is a general concept about LCM. Here we will talk about its working and why we use this term in mathematics.

Working of LCM

Suppose you are going to distribute pencils of different colors among a group of people.

Here you have to take a note of how many pencils you have distributed of each color.

The number that has a common multiple at least level is their LCM.

The same is the mathematics work that a person has to find the least common multiple presents in every value.

For finding the least common multiple, you should have at least two values. From them, you can find a common multiple.

You can find any LCM Calculator online in google that can directly figure out a common number.

Here we will talk about these calculators and their work on finding LCM of a value instantly.

How to find LCM using a calculator

The working of calculators is quite simple, and they can instantly provide the results in steps.

It makes it easy for the user to understand how this calculator works, as these steps will clear the doubts.

The user has to enter a value in the calculator and hit the calculate button. Then, it will give instant results in steps.

Here is a real-time example of working on the least common multiple calculator.

We entered three values in it, and this calculator provided the least value in the answer.

5 is the least common multiple in it, so this digit can calculate all the values.

Methods for finding LCM manually

If a user is getting LCM manually, he can use different methods to get the answer. Those methods are:

• Prime factorization
• Division or ladder method
• List of multiples

These are some common methods that people use to get the least common value of numbers.

Let’s discuss them in detail.

1. Prime factorization

It is the most used method for getting the least common multiple. Here we will discuss it with an example.

Find the LCM of digits 20, 30, and 40?

Here make the list of these digits for LCM

20: 5 × 2 × 2 = 5 × 2²

30: 5 × 2 × 3 = 5 × 2 × 3

40: 5 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 5 × 2³

5 × 2³ × 3 = 120

This is the value that we get in the end. So, 120 is the LCM of these three digits.

2. Division or ladder method

In this method, one can find the least multiple by dividing it with different digits.

When all the values are divided, then multiple of them will be their least common multiple.

Let’s discuss it with an example

2	6,5
3	3,5
5	1,5
	1,1

Here the values we get from 6 and 5 are 2,3,5. So when we multiply these values, it comes as 30.

So, 30 is the least common multiple of these two digits.

3. List of multiples

One more method to find the LCM of values is generating the list of all its multiples.

Suppose you are finding the LCM of 30, then its multiples will be 2,3,5 and 6. So this is the list of its multiples.

Here we will explain it further with an example.

Find LCM of 100 and 150 with listing multiples

Write the multiples of given number

100 = 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, …

150 = 150, 300, 450, 600, 750, 900, …

Here 300 is the digit that is common in both lines. So, the LCM of these digits is 300.

Final words

The term LCM used in mathematics points out the smallest digit that can be multiple of everyone.

You can follow the above methods and generate the LCM of digits quite quickly.

If you find it challenging to figure out LCM manually, you can use an LCM calculator.

These calculators can provide you results in steps that can make it easy to understand.