What is the greatest common factor of the following monomials: 12g^5h^4 g^5h^2

g^5h^2

Step-by-step explanation:

12g^5h^4, g^5h^2

This is one way of doing it. Break down every number and every variable into a product of the simplest factors. Then see how many of each factor appear in both monomials.

12g^5h^4 = 2 * 2 * 3 * g * g * g * g * g * h * h * h * h

g^5h^2 = g * g * g * g * g * h * h

So far you see every single prime factor of each monomial.

Now I will mark the ones that are present in both. Those are the common factors.

12g^5h^4 = 2 * 2 * 3 * g * g * g * g * g * h * h * h * h

g^5h^2 = g * g * g * g * g * h * h

The greatest common factor is the product of all the factors that appear in both monomials.

GCF = g * g * g * g * g * h * h = g^5h^2