common divisor

American  

noun

Mathematics.

1. a number that is a submultiple of all the numbers of a given set.

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common divisor British  

noun

1. another name for common factor

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common divisor Scientific  

1. A number that is a factor of two or more numbers. For example, 3 is a common divisor of both 9 and 15.

2. Also called common factor

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Etymology

Origin of common divisor

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Strategy 1 can be generalized if ƒ and t have a common divisor m that doesn’t divide d:

From Scientific American

There is a mathematical explanation for the auditory illusion in my example, sometimes called the missing fundamental: The perceived pitch is the greatest common divisor of the frequencies of the sine waves present.

From Scientific American

The conjecture, first proposed in the 1980s, considers a simple equation of three integers, a + b = c, where the three integers do not share any common divisors other than 1.

From New York Times

The reader probably never has had occasion to compute a greatest common divisor since he left school.

From Project Gutenberg

And when this greatest common divisor of all the classes and all the interests, this neutral, colorless person to whom no one can find any objection, enters the White House does he represent Labor?

From Project Gutenberg