Greatest Common Divisor Calculator

Introduction

This tool finds the Greatest Common Divisor of any two numbers, with a little help from the Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid.

The Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) - also known as the Highest Common Factor (HCF) — of any two non-zero integers is the largest positive whole number that divides both values exactly without leaving a remainder.
For example, if you take the numbers 24 and 36, they share several common factors such as 2, 3, 4, and 6, but the largest integer that divides into both completely is 12.
This concept is fundamental to simplifying fractions to their lowest terms, finding common denominators, and solving practical sharing or tiling problems. To determine this value efficiently without manually listing every factor, this calculator employs the Euclidean algorithm, to systematically find the ultimate common factor.

Instructions

1. Type, or Copy-and-Paste the two numbers to be analysed, into the two text boxes below.
2. Click the 'Calculate' button below the input fields.
3. The results will be displayed below.