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Quick lookup, 1-20

GCF Reference Chart

This chart shows the greatest common factor (GCF) for every pair of whole numbers from 1 to 20 at a glance, useful for checking a homework answer quickly or spotting a pattern without running the calculator each time. Find your first number down the left column and your second number along the top row; the cell where they meet is the GCF of that pair. For numbers outside this 1-20 range, or for three or more numbers at once, use the calculator on the homepage, which handles any whole numbers and shows the full prime factorization work as well.

Greatest common factor for every pair of whole numbers from 1 to 20
GCF 1234567891011121314151617181920
1 11111111111111111111
2 12121212121212121212
3 11311311311311311311
4 12141214121412141214
5 11115111151111511115
6 12321612321612321612
7 11111171111117111111
8 12141218121412181214
9 11311311911311311911
10 1212521211012125212110
11 111111111111111111111
12 123416143211212341614
13 111111111111131111111
14 121212721212114121212
15 113153113513111511315
16 121412181214121161214
17 111111111111111117111
18 123216129216123211812
19 111111111111111111191
20 1214521411014125412120

Highlighted cells: a shaded diagonal marks where a number's GCF with itself equals that number (or a clean multiple), and a lighter tint marks coprime pairs (GCF = 1, no common factor besides 1).

How to read the chart

The chart is symmetric, meaning GCF(6, 15) and GCF(15, 6) give the same answer, so it doesn't matter which number you look up first, down the side or across the top. The shaded diagonal cells (where a number's GCF with itself equals that number) confirm the basic rule that any number's GCF with itself is always itself. The lighter, coprime cells (where the GCF is 1) mark pairs that share no common factor larger than 1, which happens more often than many people expect, roughly 6 out of every 10 randomly chosen pairs of whole numbers are coprime. For numbers outside this 1-20 range, or three or more numbers at once, use the GCF calculator, or see how to find the GCF for the methods behind this table.

A few commonly looked-up values, called out directly

Some specific pairs come up in schoolwork more than others, usually because they appear in a common fraction-simplifying or word-problem example. Here are a handful, matching the chart above:

What this chart doesn't cover, and why

This table is capped at 20 by 20 on purpose: a larger printed grid becomes hard to scan visually and the pattern it's meant to illustrate (how common factors relate to multiples) is already clear by 20. If you need the GCF of a number larger than 20, or the GCF of three or more numbers at once, those cases go beyond what a two-dimensional table can show cleanly, that's exactly what the calculator on the homepage is for: it accepts any whole numbers up to fifteen at a time and shows the same kind of step-by-step prime factorization work this chart is built from, just computed on demand instead of pre-listed.

The pattern behind the diagonal and near-diagonal cells

Look along the top-left to bottom-right diagonal of the chart and you'll see every number matched with itself, always equal to that number, since any number divides itself with no remainder. One step off that diagonal (comparing a number to its immediate neighbors) tends to produce a GCF of 1 far more often than not, because two consecutive whole numbers can never share any common factor larger than 1; if they did, that factor would also have to divide their difference, which is always exactly 1, and nothing but 1 divides 1. That's why, for example, GCF(7, 8), GCF(12, 13) and GCF(19, 20) are all 1, a rule that holds for every pair of consecutive whole numbers, not just the ones shown on this particular 20-by-20 grid.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the GCF of two consecutive numbers always 1?
Any common factor of two numbers must also divide their difference. For two consecutive whole numbers, that difference is always exactly 1, and the only whole number that divides 1 is 1 itself, so their GCF can never be anything larger than 1. You can see this pattern directly in the chart: every cell one step off the main diagonal shows 1.
Does the chart include 1 as a number?
Yes, row and column 1 are included, and every cell in that row/column shows 1, since the number 1 has no factors besides itself, so it can never share a larger common factor with anything else.
How do I find the GCF for numbers bigger than 20?
Use the calculator on the homepage instead; it accepts any whole numbers (not just 1-20) and computes the exact GCF using the same method behind this chart, along with the least common multiple and the full prime factorization breakdown.
What does it mean if a chart cell shows the same number as the row or column header?
It means one number divides the other evenly. For example, the cell for 6 and 18 shows 6, because 18 is an exact multiple of 6 (18 = 6 x 3), so the smaller number is automatically the GCF whenever it divides the larger one with no remainder.
Is this chart generated from data sent to a server?
No. The table is computed once when the page is built; nothing about your visit is sent anywhere to produce it. See the privacy policy for how this site handles data in general.

Need a number outside this chart?

The calculator handles any whole numbers, including three or more at once.

Open the GCF calculator

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