How to calculate greatest common divisor in python

To find the greatest common divisor (G.C.D.) of two integers on Python, use the gcd() function of the math module

math.gcd(a,b)

Parameters a and b are two integer numeric values.

The greatest common divisor (gcd) function finds the highest integer that can divide both a and b values.

Note. To use the gcd () function you need to import it into Python using the import or from import command.

Alternative method

Alternatively, you can create a gcd() function in the script without importing the math module

def gcd(x,y):
while(y):
x,y=y,x%y
return x

Examples

Example 1

This script calculates the greatest common divisor (G.C.D.) of the numbers 14 and 6 via the function gcd().

import math
math.gcd(14,6)

The function returns in output

2

The integer number 2 is the greatest common divisor of 14 and 6.

Example 2

This script calculates the greatest common divisor of 12 and 6.

import math
math.gcd(12,6)

The gcd() function returns as output

6

The integer 6 is the highest divisor value that can divide both 12 and 6.

Example 3

This script calculates the M.C.D. of 14 and 0.

import math
math.gcd(14,0)

The output result is the following

14

If one of the two numbers is a zero, the greatest common factor is the other number, because zero is divisible by any number.