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

See Examples For:

common divisor

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 ● Feb. 24, 2018

There was no common divisor for all of the 300 cars shown.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

From The Psychology of Arithmetic by Thorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)

The number of votes obtained by each of the lists is divided by the "common divisor" thus:— 8,000 divided by 3,750 = 2 with a remainder of 500.

From Proportional Representation A Study in Methods of Election by Humphreys, John H.

Totitive, tot′i-tiv, n. a number less than another having with it no common divisor but unity.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various