Least common multiple for 3 or more numbers

You can compute the LCM of more than two numbers by iteratively computing the LCM of two numbers, i.e.

lcm(a,b,c) = lcm(a,lcm(b,c))

In Python (modified primes.py):

def gcd(a, b):
    """Return greatest common divisor using Euclid's Algorithm."""
    while b:      
        a, b = b, a % b
    return a

def lcm(a, b):
    """Return lowest common multiple."""
    return a * b // gcd(a, b)

def lcmm(*args):
    """Return lcm of args."""   
    return reduce(lcm, args)

Usage:

>>> lcmm(100, 23, 98)
112700
>>> lcmm(*range(1, 20))
232792560

reduce() works something like that:

>>> f = lambda a,b: "f(%s,%s)" % (a,b)
>>> print reduce(f, "abcd")
f(f(f(a,b),c),d)

I just figured this out in Haskell:

lcm' :: Integral a => a -> a -> a
lcm' a b = a`div`(gcd a b) * b
lcm :: Integral a => [a] -> a
lcm (n:ns) = foldr lcm' n ns

I even took the time to write my own gcd function, only to find it in Prelude! Lots of learning for me today :D

Here is the PHP implementation:

    // https://stackoverflow.com/q/12412782/1066234
    function math_gcd($a,$b) 
    {
        $a = abs($a); 
        $b = abs($b);
        if($a < $b) 
        {
            list($b,$a) = array($a,$b); 
        }
        if($b == 0) 
        {
            return $a;      
        }
        $r = $a % $b;
        while($r > 0) 
        {
            $a = $b;
            $b = $r;
            $r = $a % $b;
        }
        return $b;
    }

    function math_lcm($a, $b)
    {
        return ($a * $b / math_gcd($a, $b));
    }

    // https://stackoverflow.com/a/2641293/1066234
    function math_lcmm($args)
    {
        // Recursively iterate through pairs of arguments
        // i.e. lcm(args[0], lcm(args[1], lcm(args[2], args[3])))

        if(count($args) == 2)
        {
            return math_lcm($args[0], $args[1]);
        }
        else 
        {
            $arg0 = $args[0];
            array_shift($args);
            return math_lcm($arg0, math_lcmm($args));
        }
    }

    // fraction bonus
    function math_fraction_simplify($num, $den) 
    {
        $g = math_gcd($num, $den);
        return array($num/$g, $den/$g);
    }


    var_dump( math_lcmm( array(4, 7) ) ); // 28
    var_dump( math_lcmm( array(5, 25) ) ); // 25
    var_dump( math_lcmm( array(3, 4, 12, 36) ) ); // 36
    var_dump( math_lcmm( array(3, 4, 7, 12, 36) ) ); // 252

Credits go to @T3db0t with his answer above (ECMA-style code).

for python 3:

from functools import reduce

gcd = lambda a,b: a if b==0 else gcd(b, a%b)
def lcm(lst):        
    return reduce(lambda x,y: x*y//gcd(x, y), lst)  

In Ruby, it's as simple as:

> [2, 3, 4, 6].reduce(:lcm)
=> 12

> [16, 32, 96].reduce(:gcd)
=> 16

(tested on Ruby 2.2.10 and 2.6.3.)

Python 3.9 math module's gcd and lcm support over a list of numbers.

import math

lst = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]

print(math.lcm(*lst))

print(math.gcd(*lst))

If there's no time-constraint, this is fairly simple and straight-forward:

def lcm(a,b,c):
    for i in range(max(a,b,c), (a*b*c)+1, max(a,b,c)):
        if i%a == 0 and i%b == 0 and i%c == 0:
            return i