Question

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

Answer 1

H.C.F. (616, 32) will give the maximum number of columns in which they can march.

We can use Euclid algorithm to find the HCF.

$616>32$

We divide $616$ by $32$

We get, $616=32\times 19=8$

Since, the remainder is not zero

We divide 32 by 8 , we get,

$32=8\times 4+0$

Now remainder is zero

The HCF (616, 32) is 8.

Therefore, they can march in 8 columns each.