Maths help please SOS

[Serena1977]

Good evening,

DD11 has some maths homework.

One of the questions has stumped us.

Find the HCF of 55x and 121?

Does it mean replace the x with every digit, eg 550,551,552,553 and so on?

She tells me the HCF means highest common factor. The common factors of 121 are 1, 11 and 121 but what is 55x? And the x is that curly x that is used in maths.

TIA

This is a really random question are you sure the x is not a misprint?

I think it means find the highest number they can both be divided by.

I'd assume that the x is meant to be there, so it's 11.

If the x is a misprint that shouldn't be there, it would be 11, wouldn't it?

11 x 11 = 121
5 x11 = 55

HCF = 11?

But the 55x makes no sense.

@noblegiraffe can you help?

Just work out the individual factors

The factors of 55 are: 1,5,11,55
The factors of 121 are: 1,11,121

whicj is the highest one = 11

11

The factors of 55x are 1, 5, 11, 55, x
Factors of 121 are 1, 11 and 121
HCF is 11

Yes there is! 11 goes into 55 and 121. A pp already said this. I seriously question your username TBH.

Yes it does. They're trying to get her to find the HCF of an unknown multiple of 55 (that multiple is represented with the x). Anything multiplied by 55 is also divisible by 11.

@MathsTeacherandLoveit

maths teacher? seriously

I meant in the context of my guess about what the question is asking for.

Here is the photo.

Did you have to solve for x in the question above?

Question 1 was a simplify algebra question, DD did that one fine, it's question 2 that has bamboozled us.

I'm thinking it's 55 mulitplied by any one digit number.

Oh bollocks. I've had a hideous day. So hideous that I can't even answer basic maths questions. I shall crawl back under my rock and work harder at planning my lessons for tomorrow. What a fuckwit! 😖😴😢. Roll on the end of term...
Sorry everyone. I'm really embarrassed 😳

It wouldn't need to be a one digit number, it could be any round number.

It's badly written but I would assume @SisterMichaelsHabit has it.

Lol. I'm at the point in the semester where I hardly know my own name, I feel you.

Ah bless you

So the x is a red herring because the answer is 11, whatever it means.

My guess would be to help with factorising single brackets where you have to take out the highest common factor
HCF of 55x and 121 is 11 so if you're factorising 55x+121 it would be 11(5x+11)

HCF of 55x2 and 121x is 11x so if you're factorising 55x2+121x it would be 11x(5x+11)

sort of thing

Or it could just be a typo

Where there should be two separate x^2 in the post above, not the italics

55x is basically a multiple of 55. HCF , highest common factor of 121 and a multiple of 55 , would be 121 when x= 11. Any higher and it wouldn't also be a factor of 122.

Lowest common factor would be 11.

I hope this makes sense.

Damn can't edit. If it was just 55 , without the X, then it would be 11.

Are you certain that is all the info in the question?

If x=121 then obviously the HCF is 121.