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 • Feb. 24, 2018

The Executive is the greatest common divisor of a diverse society.

From Behind the Mirrors The Psychology of Disintegration at Washington by Gilbert, Clinton W. (Clinton Wallace)

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 The Price of the Prairie A Story of Kansas by McCarter, Margaret Hill

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 Behind the Mirrors The Psychology of Disintegration at Washington by Gilbert, Clinton W. (Clinton Wallace)

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)