To reduce a fraction to the lowest terms equivalent: divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor, GCF
To calculate the greatest common factor, GCF:
- 1. Factor the numerator and the denominator (into prime factors), build their prime factorizations.
- 2. Multiply all their common prime factors, taken by the lowest exponents.
1. Factor the numerator and the denominator:
To factor a number (into prime factors) - or, in other words, to break it down to prime factors - or, in other words, to build its prime factorization: find the prime numbers that multiply together to get that number.
The prime factorizations:
Written with exponents:
1,000,016 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 62,501 = 24 × 62,501
1,000,016 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
7,000,020 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 29 × 149 = 22 × 34 × 5 × 29 × 149
7,000,020 is a composite number.
1,000,016/7,000,020 =
(1,000,016 ÷ 4) / (7,000,020 ÷ 4) =
250,004/1,750,005
Yet another method to reduce the fraction
To reduce a fraction without calculating the GCF: factor its numerator and denominator, then all the common prime factors are easily identified and crossed out.
1,000,016/7,000,020 =
(24 × 62,501)/(22 × 34 × 5 × 29 × 149) =
((24 × 62,501) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 34 × 5 × 29 × 149) ÷ 22) =
(22 × 62,501)/(34 × 5 × 29 × 149) =
250,004/1,750,005
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
250,004/1,750,005 =
250,004 ÷ 1,750,005 =
0.142859020403 ≈
0.14