Java Program to Compute GCD

GCD (Greatest Common Divisor) of two given numbers A and B is the highest number that can divide both A and B completely, i.e., leaving remainder 0 in each case. GCD is also called HCF(Highest Common Factor). There are various approaches to find the GCD of two given numbers.

Approaches: 

The GCD of the given two numbers A and B can be calculated using different approaches.

1. General method
2. Euclidean algorithm (by repeated subtraction)
3. Euclidean algorithm (by repeated division)

Examples:

Input: 20, 30
Output: GCD(20, 30) = 10
Explanation: 10 is the highest integer which divides both 20 and 30 leaving 0 remainder

Input: 36, 37
Output: GCD(36, 37) = 1
Explanation: 36 and 37 don't have any factors in common except 1. So, 1 is the gcd of 36 and 37

Note: gcd(A, B) = 1 if A, B are co-primes.

General Approach:

In the general approach of computing GCD, we actually implement the definition of GCD.

• First, find out all the factors of A and B individually.
• Then list out those factors which are common for both A and B.
• The highest of those common factors is the GCD of A and B.

Example:

A = 20, B = 30
Factors of A : (1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20)
Factors of B : (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30)
Common factors of A and B : (1, 2, 5, 10)
Highest of the Common factors (GCD) = 10

It is clear that the GCD of 20 and 30 can’t be greater than 20. So we have to check for the numbers within the range 1 and 20. Also, we need the greatest of the divisors. So, iterate from backward to reduce computation time.

Java

// Java program to compute GCD of
// two numbers using general
// approach
import java.io.*;

class GFG {

    // gcd() method, returns the GCD of a and b
    static int gcd(int a, int b)
    {
        // stores minimum(a, b)
        int i;
        if (a < b)
            i = a;
        else
            i = b;

        // take a loop iterating through smaller number to 1
        for (i = i; i > 1; i--) {

            // check if the current value of i divides both
            // numbers with remainder 0 if yes, then i is
            // the GCD of a and b
            if (a % i == 0 && b % i == 0)
                return i;
        }

        // if there are no common factors for a and b other
        // than 1, then GCD of a and b is 1
        return 1;
    }
    // Driver method
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int a = 30, b = 20;

        // calling gcd() method over
        // the integers 30 and 20
        System.out.println("GCD = " + gcd(b, a));
    }
}

Output

GCD = 10

Euclidean algorithm (repeated subtraction):

This approach is based on the principle that the GCD of two numbers A and B will be the same even if we replace the larger number with the difference between A and B. In this approach, we perform GCD operation on A and B repeatedly by replacing A with B and B with the difference(A, B) as long as the difference is greater than 0.

Example 

A = 30, B = 20
gcd(30, 20) -> gcd(A, B)
gcd(20, 30 - 20) = gcd(20,10) -> gcd(B,B-A)
gcd(30 - 20, 20 - (30 - 20)) = gcd(10, 10) -> gcd(B - A, B - (B - A))
gcd(10, 10 - 10) = gcd(10, 0)
here, the difference is 0
So stop the procedure. And 10 is the GCD of 30 and 20

Java

// Java program to compute GCD
// of two numbers using Euclid's
// repeated subtraction approach
import java.io.*;

class GFG {

    // gcd method returns the GCD of a and b
    static int gcd(int a, int b)
    {
        // if b=0, a is the GCD
        if (b == 0)
            return a;

        // call the gcd() method recursively by
        // replacing a with b and b with
        // difference(a,b) as long as b != 0
        else
            return gcd(b, Math.abs(a - b));
    }

    // Driver method
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int a = 30, b = 20;

        // calling gcd() over
        // integers 30 and 20
        System.out.println("GCD = " + gcd(a, b));
    }
}

Output

GCD = 10

Euclidean algorithm (repeated division): 

This approach is similar to the repeated subtraction approach. But, in this approach, we replace B with the modulus of A and B instead of the difference.

Example :

A = 30, B = 20
gcd(30, 20) -> gcd(A, B)
gcd(20, 30 % 20) = gcd(20, 10) -> gcd(B, A % B)
gcd(10, 20 % 10) = gcd(10, 10) -> gcd(A % B, B % (A % B))
gcd(10, 10 % 10) = gcd(10, 0)
here, the modulus became 0
So, stop the procedure. And 10 is the GCD of 30 and 20

Java

// Java program to compute GCD
// of two numbers using Euclid's
// repeated division approach
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

class GFG {

    // gcd method returns the GCD of a and b
    static int gcd(int a, int b)
    {
        // if b=0, a is the GCD
        if (b == 0)
            return a;

        // call the gcd() method recursively by
        // replacing a with b and b with
        // modulus(a,b) as long as b != 0
        else
            return gcd(b, a % b);
    }
    // Driver method
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int a = 20, b = 30;

        // calling gcd() over
        // integers 30 and 20
        System.out.println("GCD = " + gcd(a, b));
    }
}

Output

GCD = 10

Euclid’s repeated division approach is most commonly used among all the approaches.

Time complexity: O(log(min(a,b)))

Auxiliary space: O(log(min(a,b)) for recursive call stack