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The largest of the common divisors of a set of integers or, in particular, of natural numbers <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450601.png" />. The greatest common divisor of a set of numbers not all of which are zero always exists. The greatest common divisor of <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450602.png" /> is usually denoted by <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450603.png" />.

Properties of the greatest common divisor are:

1) The greatest common divisor of <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450604.png" /> is divisible by any common divisor of these numbers.

2) <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450605.png" />.

3) If <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450606.png" /> are expressed as

<table class="eq" style="width:100%;"> <tr><td valign="top" style="width:94%;text-align:center;"><img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450607.png" /></td> </tr></table>

where <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450608.png" /> are distinct primes, <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g0450609.png" />, <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506010.png" />, and <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506011.png" />, then

<table class="eq" style="width:100%;"> <tr><td valign="top" style="width:94%;text-align:center;"><img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506012.png" /></td> </tr></table>

The greatest common divisor of two natural numbers can be determined by the [[Euclidean algorithm|Euclidean algorithm]]. The number of steps necessary to do this is bounded from above by five times the number of digits in the smaller of the two numbers (in decimal notation).

The greatest common divisor of elements of an [[Integral domain|integral domain]] is defined as the common divisor of these elements that is divisible by any other common divisor. Thus, the greatest common divisor of two polynomials over a given field is the common divisor that is divisible by any other common divisor of the polynomials. If the greatest common divisor of two elements of an integral domain exists, it is unique up to multiplication by an invertible element. The greatest common divisor of two ideals <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506013.png" /> and <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506014.png" /> in a ring is the ideal <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506015.png" /> generated by the union of the sets <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506016.png" /> and <img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/legacyimages/g/g045/g045060/g04506017.png" /> (see [[Factorial ring|Factorial ring]]).

====References====
<table><TR><TD valign="top">[1]</TD> <TD valign="top">  I.M. Vinogradov,   "Elements of number theory" , Dover, reprint  (1954)  (Translated from Russian)</TD></TR><TR><TD valign="top">[2]</TD> <TD valign="top">  A.A. Bukhshtab,   "Number theory" , Moscow  (1966)  (In Russian)</TD></TR><TR><TD valign="top">[3]</TD> <TD valign="top">  A.I. Markushevich,   "Division with remainder in arithmetic and algebra" , Moscow-Leningrad  (1949)  (In Russian)</TD></TR><TR><TD valign="top">[4]</TD> <TD valign="top">  R. Faure,   A. Kaufman,   M. Denis-Papin,   "Mathématique nouvelle" , Dunod  (1964)</TD></TR><TR><TD valign="top">[5]</TD> <TD valign="top">  S. Lang,   "Algebra" , Addison-Wesley  (1974)</TD></TR><TR><TD valign="top">[6]</TD> <TD valign="top">  K. Ireland,   M. Rosen,   "A classical introduction to modern number theory" , Springer  (1982)</TD></TR></table>



====Comments====
More generally, if $R$ is a domain, a greatest common divisor $d$ of a set $S \subset R$, not all $x \in S$ zero, is characterized by the fact that any common divisor of all $x \in S$ divides $d$. If for any $S \subset R$ with not all $x \in S$ zero such a $d$ exists, $R$ is called a principal ideal domain (cf. [[Principal ideal ring|Principal ideal ring]]). Examples of such domains are the ring $\mathbb{Z}$ of rational integers or polynomial rings $R[X]$, where $R$ is a [[Field|field]] (e.g., $\mathbb{C}$ or $\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{Q}$). It is known that a principal ideal domain is also a unique factorization domain.

====References====
<table><TR><TD valign="top">[a1]</TD> <TD valign="top">  B.L. van der Waerden,   "Algebra" , '''1''' , Springer  (1967)  (Translated from German)</TD></TR></table>