R Program to Find LCM of Two Numbers

1. Introduction

The Least Common Multiple (LCM) of two numbers is the smallest number that can be perfectly divided by both original numbers. LCM is fundamental in problems that deal with common intervals, like scheduling, or finding common denominators in fractions.

2. Program Overview

This post presents an R program to calculate the LCM of two numbers. We'll use the relation between GCD (Greatest Common Divisor) and LCM for this purpose:

LCM(a, b) = \frac{a * b}{GCD(a, b)}

Thus, to find the LCM, we first need to calculate the GCD.

3. Code Program

# Function to find GCD
findGCD <- function(a, b) {
  # If the second number is 0, return the first number
  if(b == 0) {
    return(a)
  } else {
    return(findGCD(b, a %% b))  # Recursion with reduced values
  }
}

# Function to find LCM using the GCD
findLCM <- function(a, b) {
  return(abs(a * b) / findGCD(a, b))
}

# Test the LCM function
num1 <- 12
num2 <- 15
result <- findLCM(num1, num2)
cat("The LCM of", num1, "and", num2, "is:", result)

Output:

The LCM of 12 and 15 is: 60

4. Step By Step Explanation

1. We start by finding the GCD of the two numbers using the Euclidean algorithm.

2. The LCM is then calculated using the formula: LCM(a, b) = abs(a * b) / GCD(a, b).

3. We use the absolute value function (abs) to handle the potential scenario where one of the numbers might be negative.

4. Finally, the calculated LCM is printed.