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Euclid's Algorithm — Find the Biggest Shared Measure with Paper Strips
A hands-on maths project: cut two paper strips of different lengths and repeatedly lay the shorter along the longer to find their greatest common measure -- Euclid's 2,300-year-old algorithm, done with your hands. A Python cell checks your answer, and a compendium shows why this simple recipe still runs inside computers.
Beginner
30 minutes
Instructions
1
1
The greatest common measure
The greatest common measure
The greatest common divisor of two numbers is the largest number that divides both. Around 300 BC Euclid found a beautiful way to get it without factoring. You will do it as he did -- as lengths.
2
2
Cut two strips
Cut two strips
Cut two strips of card, one 48 cm and one 18 cm (or any two lengths). The greatest common divisor is the longest ruler-length that measures BOTH strips a whole number of times.
Materials for this step:
Cardstock Assorted Pack (50 sheets)1 pieceTools needed:
Sharp Scissors
Steel Ruler (30cm)3
3
Lay the short along the long
Lay the short along the long
Lay the 18 cm strip along the 48 cm strip as many whole times as it fits (twice, reaching 36), and mark the leftover (12 cm). Now repeat with the two smaller lengths: fit 12 into 18 once, leftover 6. Fit 6 into 12 exactly twice, no leftover. The last non-zero leftover, 6 cm, is the answer -- it measures both original strips exactly.
4
4
Check it
Check it
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
Tools needed:
Desktop Computer
Calculator5
5
Compendium: the oldest algorithm still running
Compendium: the oldest algorithm still running
What your strips reveal. (1) Each step replaces the longer length with the leftover, and it works because any length dividing both strips also divides the leftover. (2) It is astonishingly fast -- its very worst case is consecutive Fibonacci numbers, and even then it takes only a handful of steps for huge numbers. (3) The same idea reduces fractions to lowest terms (divide top and bottom by their GCD). (4) It is one of the oldest algorithms still in daily use, running billions of times a day inside the RSA encryption that protects online banking and messaging.
Materials
1- Placeholder
Tools Required
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