To find the greatest common factor (GCF) of negative monomials, you can follow these steps:
- Identify the coefficients: Look at the numerical parts of the negative monomials. For example, if you have -6x² and -9x³, the coefficients are -6 and -9.
- Find the GCF of the coefficients: Determine the GCF of the absolute values of the coefficients. In our example, the GCF of 6 and 9 is 3.
- Identify the variable parts: Look at the variable parts of the negative monomials. For -6x² and -9x³, the variables are x² and x³. The GCF of x² and x³ is the variable with the lowest exponent, which is x².
- Combine the results: The GCF of the negative monomials is the product of the GCF of the coefficients and the GCF of the variable parts. So in this case, it’s 3x².
In conclusion, the GCF of -6x² and -9x³ is -3x². Remember to take the negative sign into account as you are working with negative monomials.