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:
101,012 = 2 × 2 × 25,253 = 22 × 25,253
101,012 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
444,444 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37 = 22 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37
444,444 is a composite number.
101,012/444,444 =
(101,012 ÷ 4) / (444,444 ÷ 4) =
25,253/111,111
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.
101,012/444,444 =
(22 × 25,253)/(22 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37) =
((22 × 25,253) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37) ÷ 22) =
25,253/(3 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37) =
25,253/111,111
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
25,253/111,111 =
25,253 ÷ 111,111 =
0.227277227277 ≈
0.23