Greatest Common Divisor
By imitating the Euclidean algorithm, we can calculate the GCD between two numbers a and b with the following construction: we draw a rectangle of a times b squares on squared paper. Then, we draw in this rectangle as many squares of side b as we can (if a>b) and we repeat the procedure on the remaining rectangle until the starting rectangle is completely decomposed in squares. So, the GCD between a and b is the side of the smallest square which appears in the construction.In the figure: GCD(14,6)=2, GCD(7,4)=1, GCD(12,3)=3.
© matematita
The image belongs to the sections...:
Geoboard and squared paper (2D geometry)
Numbers (Numbers)
