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:
10,773 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 19 = 34 × 7 × 19
10,773 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
140,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 = 25 × 54 × 7
140,000 is a composite number.
10,773/140,000 =
(10,773 ÷ 7) / (140,000 ÷ 7) =
1,539/20,000
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.
10,773/140,000 =
(34 × 7 × 19)/(25 × 54 × 7) =
((34 × 7 × 19) ÷ 7) / ((25 × 54 × 7) ÷ 7) =
(34 × 19)/(25 × 54) =
1,539/20,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,539/20,000 =
1,539 ÷ 20,000 =
0.07695 ≈
0.08