Solution: The LCM of 125 and 78 is 9750
Methods
How to find the LCM of 125 and 78 using Prime Factorization
One way to find the LCM of 125 and 78 is to start by comparing the prime factorization of each number. To find the prime factorization, you can follow the instructions for each number here:
What are the Factors of 125?
What are the Factors of 78?
Here is the prime factorization of 125:
5
3
5^3
5 3
And this is the prime factorization of 78:
2
1
×
3
1
×
1
3
1
2^1 × 3^1 × 13^1
2 1 × 3 1 × 1 3 1
When you compare the prime factorization of these two numbers, you want to look for the highest power that each prime factor is raised to. In this case, there are these prime factors to consider: 5, 2, 3, 13
2
1
×
3
1
×
5
3
×
1
3
1
=
9750
2^1 × 3^1 × 5^3 × 13^1 = 9750
2 1 × 3 1 × 5 3 × 1 3 1 = 9750
Through this we see that the LCM of 125 and 78 is 9750.
How to Find the LCM of 125 and 78 by Listing Common Multiples
The first step to this method of finding the Least Common Multiple of 125 and 78 is to begin to list a few multiples for each number. If you need a refresher on how to find the multiples of these numbers, you can see the walkthroughs in the links below for each number.
Let’s take a look at the multiples for each of these numbers, 125 and 78:
What are the Multiples of 125?
What are the Multiples of 78?
Let’s take a look at the first 10 multiples for each of these numbers, 125 and 78:
First 10 Multiples of 125: 125, 250, 375, 500, 625, 750, 875, 1000, 1125, 1250
First 10 Multiples of 78: 78, 156, 234, 312, 390, 468, 546, 624, 702, 780
You can continue to list out the multiples of these numbers as long as needed to find a match. Once you do find a match, or several matches, the smallest of these matches would be the Least Common Multiple. For instance, the first matching multiple(s) of 125 and 78 are 9750, 19500, 29250. Because 9750 is the smallest, it is the least common multiple.
The LCM of 125 and 78 is 9750.
Find the LCM of Other Number Pairs
Want more practice? Try some of these other LCM problems:
What is the LCM of 51 and 91?
What is the LCM of 9 and 30?
What is the LCM of 82 and 101?
What is the LCM of 39 and 64?
What is the LCM of 145 and 93?