greatest common divisor

American  

noun

1. the largest number that is a common divisor of a given set of numbers. G.C.D.

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greatest common divisor British  

noun

1. another name for highest common factor

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Etymology

Origin of greatest common divisor

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

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

From Project Gutenberg

The greatest common divisor of all the minorities that go to making a winning national combination must be neutral, he must be colorless, he must not know that his soul is his own.

From Project Gutenberg

The videos were each about 10 minutes long and contained two elements: his blackboard-style diagrams—Khan happens to be an excellent sketcher—and his voice-over explaining things like greatest common divisors and equivalent fractions.

From BusinessWeek

What'll he do wid the greatest common divisor an' the indicative mood an' the Sea of Azov, an' the Zambezi River, when he's learned 'em, anyhow?

From Project Gutenberg