what is the GCF of 12x and 44xy
\(12x=4x\cdot3\\\\44xy=4x\cdot11y\\\\GCF(12x;\ 44xy)=4x\)
If we don't know what 'x' and 'y' are, the best we can say is that the GCF is 4x .But 'x' and 'y' can easily take on values that would change the GCF.