Math goodness for everyone today! We are going to be calculating the Smallest (or Least, or Lowest) Common Multiple of a range of numbers, as prompted by the Smallest Common Multiple bonfire. In mathematics, the least common multiple is the smallest positive number that is a multiple of two or more numbers (source).

As an example, take numbers 5 and 11. What is the smallest number divisible by the two? Let’s get the multiples of each and find out!

• Multiples of 5: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65…
• Multiples of 11: 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99…

As you can see, the first match we come across is number 55, that number is the least common multiple. We could try and use fancy math formulas to get it, but we are going to take advantage of our dear friend, the processor to take on the workload this time (at first). Today, I shall present you three different ways to achieve the same goal. One of them will be a more readable, short version, the second will be a little messy, but takes about half the time to come up with a solution. And the third will use some clever math and come up with the answer much faster! Interested? Let’s get to it.