Finding the Greatest Common Factor of Variable Expressions

EXAMPLES:

Question: Find the greatest common factor of

$\,6x\,$ and $\,8xy\,$:

Answer:

$2x$

Question: Find the greatest common factor of

$\,3x^2y\,$ and $\,5x^2y^2\,$:

Answer: $x^2y$

Note: In the web exercise below, you would input this answer as: x^2y
Notice that exponents are input using the ‘ ^ ’ key.
Variables must be input in the order they appear in the first expression, going from left to right.
For example, even though yx^2 is a correct answer, it is not recognized as correct.

Master the ideas from this section
by practicing the exercise at the bottom of this page.

When you're done practicing, move on to:
Factoring out the Greatest Common Factor