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Identify the greatest common factor of 16, w, squared16w
2
and 40, a, to the power 4 , b, cubed, c, squared40a
4
b
3
c
2
.
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GPT-4o mini
To find the greatest common factor (GCF) of the expressions \( 16w^2 \) and \( 40a^4b^3c^2 \), we will consider both the numerical coefficients and the variables.

### Step 1: Find the GCF of the numerical coefficients (16 and 40)

The prime factorization of the coefficients:

- \( 16 = 2^4 \)
- \( 40 = 2^3 \times 5^1 \)

Now, take the lowest power of each prime factor present in both factorizations:

- For \( 2 \): the minimum between \( 4 \) (from 16) and \( 3 \) (from 40) is \( 3 \).
- \( 5 \) does not appear in \( 16 \), so we won't consider it.

The GCF of \( 16 \) and \( 40 \) is \( 2^3 = 8 \).

### Step 2: Find the GCF of the variables

#### For \( w^2 \) and \( a^4b^3c^2 \):

- The variable \( w \) does not appear in the second expression, so it contributes \( 0 \).
- The variables \( a \), \( b \), and \( c \) contribute \( 0 \) since \( w \) from the first term doesn't match any of the variables in the second expression.

Thus, the GCF for the variables remains as \( 1 \) (essentially no contribution).

### Step 3: Combine the GCFs

Now we combine the GCF of the numerical coefficients and the variables:

\[
\text{GCF} = 8 \cdot 1 = 8
\]

### Final Answer

The greatest common factor of \( 16w^2 \) and \( 40a^4b^3c^2 \) is \( 8 \).