What is the least common multiple (LCM) of 12 and 18, and how is it calculated?

Answer 1

Jennifer Salazar

The least common multiple (LCM) of 12 and 18 is 36. It is calculated by finding the prime factorizations of both numbers (12 = 2^2 * 3 and 18 = 2 * 3^2), then taking the highest power of each prime that appears in these factorizations (2^2 and 3^2), and multiplying them together: 2^2 * 3^2 = 4 * 9 = 36.