An army contingent of 616 members is to march behind an army band of 32 members in a parade. The two groups are to march in the same number of columns. What is the maximum number of columns in which they can march

Answer: We are given that an army contingent of 616 members is to march behind an army band of 32 members in a parade. 

We have to find out the maximum number of columns the groups can march.

Therefore, 

The maximal number of arrays or columns in which the group can march = HCF (32,616)

By using the algorithm of Euclid, to find HCF, we have,

Since 616 > 32, on applying the algorithm of Euclid’s division method, we get,

616 = 32 x 19 + 8

Since we get the remainder as ≠ 0.

Therefore, on applying the algorithm of Euclid’s division method again, we get,

32 > 8

32 = 8 x 4 +0 

Since the remainder is equal to zero, we can conclude that 8 is the HCF of 616 and 32.

Hence, the maximum number of columns the groups can march is 8.