What is the least common multiple of 48, 36 and 24?

Sure, here are the steps to find the least common multiple (LCM) of 48, 36, and 24:

Step 1: First, we need to find the prime factors of each number.

• The prime factors of 48 are 2, 2, 2, 2, 3 (or 2^4 * 3^1)
• The prime factors of 36 are 2, 2, 3, 3 (or 2^2 * 3^2)
• The prime factors of 24 are 2, 2, 2, 3 (or 2^3 * 3^1)

Step 2: To find the LCM, we take the highest power of each prime factor from all the numbers.

• The highest power of 2 from all the numbers is 2^4.
• The highest power of 3 from all the numbers is 3^2.

Step 3: Multiply these highest powers together.

• 2^4 * 3^2 = 16 * 9 = 144

So, the least common multiple of 48, 36, and 24 is 144.