Denominator that is a common multiple of, and hence exactly divisible by, all the denominators of a set of fractions, and which therefore enables their sums or differences to be found.
For example,
2/3 and
3/4 can both be converted to equivalent fractions of denominator 12,
2/3 being equal to
8/12 and
3/4 to
9/12. Hence their sum is
17/12 and their difference is
1/12. The
lowest common denominator (lcd) is the smallest common multiple of the denominators of a given set of fractions.
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