In arithmetic and number theory, the least common multiple (also called the lowest common multiple or smallest common multiple) of two integers a and b, usually denoted by LCM(a, b), is the smallest positive integer that is divisible by both a and b. If either a or b is 0, LCM(a, b) is defined to be zero.
The LCM is familiar from grade-school arithmetic as the "least common denominator" (LCD) that must be determined before fractions can be added, subtracted or compared.
The LCM of more than two integers is also well-defined: it is the smallest integer that is divisible by each of them.
Read more about Least Common Multiple: Overview, The LCM in Commutative Rings
Famous quotes containing the words common and/or multiple:
“Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as right in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as brute force.”
—Sigmund Freud (18561939)
“There is a continual exchange of ideas between all minds of a generation. Journalists, popular novelists, illustrators, and cartoonists adapt the truths discovered by the powerful intellects for the multitude. It is like a spiritual flood, like a gush that pours into multiple cascades until it forms the great moving sheet of water that stands for the mentality of a period.”
—Auguste Rodin (18491917)