To find the highest common factor (HCF) of these numbers, we need to find the factors they have in common and identify the highest one.
First, we list the prime factors of each number:
16 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2
32 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2
40 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 5
We can see that all three numbers have 2 raised to the power of 2 as a common factor. They also all have at least one more factor of 2 in common. Therefore, the HCF of these numbers is 2 x 2 x 2 = 8.
Alternatively, we can use the division method to find the HCF:
16 divided by 8 = 2 with a remainder of 0
32 divided by 8 = 4 with a remainder of 0
40 divided by 8 = 5 with a remainder of 0
Since all three numbers can be evenly divided by 8, this is their highest common factor.
The highest common factor of 16, 32, 40 is
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