GCD and LCM from Prime Decomposition
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Theorem
Let $m, n \in \Z$.
Let:
- $m = p_1^{k_1} p_2^{k_2} \dotsm p_r^{k_r}$
- $n = p_1^{l_1} p_2^{l_2} \dotsm p_r^{l_r}$
- $p_i \divides m \lor p_i \divides n, 1 \le i \le r$.
That is, the primes given in these prime decompositions may be divisors of either of the numbers $m$ or $n$.
Note that if one of the primes $p_i$ does not appear in the prime decompositions of either one of $m$ or $n$, then its corresponding index $k_i$ or $l_i$ will be zero.
Then the following results apply:
- $\gcd \set {m, n} = p_1^{\min \set {k_1, l_1} } p_2^{\min \set {k_2, l_2} } \ldots p_r^{\min \set {k_r, l_r} }$
- $\lcm \set {m, n} = p_1^{\max \set {k_1, l_1} } p_2^{\max \set {k_2, l_2} } \ldots p_r^{\max \set {k_r, l_r} }$
Proof
The proof of these results can be found in:
$\blacksquare$