Precalculus Examples

$\frac{7}{6 p} - \frac{3}{2 p^{2}}$

Step 1

Finding the LCD of a list of values is the same as finding the LCM of the denominators of those values.

$6 p, 2 p^{2}$

Step 2

Since $6 p, 2 p^{2}$ contains both numbers and variables, there are two steps to find the LCM. Find LCM for the numeric part $6, 2$ then find LCM for the variable part $p^{1}, p^{2}$ .

Step 3

The LCM is the smallest positive number that all of the numbers divide into evenly.

1. List the prime factors of each number.

2. Multiply each factor the greatest number of times it occurs in either number.

Step 4

$6$ has factors of $2$ and $3$ .

$2 \cdot 3$

Step 5

Since $2$ has no factors besides $1$ and $2$ .

$2$ is a prime number

Step 6

The LCM of $6, 2$ is the result of multiplying all prime factors the greatest number of times they occur in either number.

$2 \cdot 3$

Step 7

Multiply $2$ by $3$ .

$6$

Step 8

The factor for $p^{1}$ is $p$ itself.

$p^{1} = p$

$p$ occurs $1$ time.

Step 9

The factors for $p^{2}$ are $p \cdot p$ , which is $p$ multiplied by each other $2$ times.

$p^{2} = p \cdot p$

$p$ occurs $2$ times.

Step 10

The LCM of $p^{1}, p^{2}$ is the result of multiplying all prime factors the greatest number of times they occur in either term.

$p \cdot p$

Step 11

Multiply $p$ by $p$ .

$p^{2}$

Step 12

The LCM for $6 p, 2 p^{2}$ is the numeric part $6$ multiplied by the variable part.

$6 p^{2}$