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:
108,104 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 13,513 = 23 × 13,513
108,104 is a composite number.
299,994 = 2 × 3 × 49,999
299,994 is a composite number.
108,104/299,994 =
(108,104 ÷ 2) / (299,994 ÷ 2) =
54,052/149,997
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.
108,104/299,994 =
(23 × 13,513)/(2 × 3 × 49,999) =
((23 × 13,513) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 3 × 49,999) ÷ 2) =
(22 × 13,513)/(3 × 49,999) =
54,052/149,997
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
54,052/149,997 =
54,052 ÷ 149,997 =
0.360353873744 ≈
0.36