Question

An army contingent of 616 members is to march behind an army band of 32 members in a parade. The two groups are to march in the same number of columns. What is the maximum number of columns in which they can march?

Answer 1

HCF (616, 32) will give the maximum number of columns in which they can march.
We can use Euclid’s algorithm to find the HCF.
616 = 32 × 19 + 8
32 = 8 × 4 + 0
The HCF (616, 32) is 8.
Therefore, they can march in 8 columns each.