Demetrius's answer to jayden's Secondary 1 Maths Singapore question.

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Demetrius
Demetrius's answer
13 answers (Tutor Details)
1st
Let's take this step by step!

Basically, the question says that the rectangular sheet is cut EXACTLY into squares, which means there is no wastage. This means that the length of the square has to be a factor of 360 AND 280. Imagine if the length is, let's say, 50cm. If you divide it by the height alone, you get 5.6 squares. Obviously, you can't have 0.6 of a square.

Now, the second condition is that it is the largest possible length. So the length of the square has to be the highest common factor. The square can also have a length of 20cm, but that's not the largest length possible.
jayden
Jayden
4 months ago
thank u
jayden
Jayden
4 months ago
wait may i ask why 2 three x 5 ?
Demetrius
Demetrius
4 months ago
They are the common factors inside both numbers. You can compare the two lines at the top.

The highest commom factor requires you to extract all common factors (matching numbers) from both numbers.
jayden
Jayden
4 months ago
ohh i get it now thank you