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:
104 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 13 = 23 × 13
104 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
12,345,678,956 = 2 × 2 × 13 × 2,803 × 84,701 = 22 × 13 × 2,803 × 84,701
12,345,678,956 is a composite number.
104/12,345,678,956 =
(104 ÷ 52) / (12,345,678,956 ÷ 52) =
2/237,416,903
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.
104/12,345,678,956 =
(23 × 13)/(22 × 13 × 2,803 × 84,701) =
((23 × 13) ÷ (22 × 13)) / ((22 × 13 × 2,803 × 84,701) ÷ (22 × 13)) =
2/(2,803 × 84,701) =
2/237,416,903
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2/237,416,903 =
2 ÷ 237,416,903 =
0.000000008424 ≈
0