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:
10,872 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 151 = 23 × 32 × 151
10,872 is a composite number.
20,010 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 23 × 29
20,010 is a composite number.
10,872/20,010 =
(10,872 ÷ 6) / (20,010 ÷ 6) =
1,812/3,335
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.
10,872/20,010 =
(23 × 32 × 151)/(2 × 3 × 5 × 23 × 29) =
((23 × 32 × 151) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 5 × 23 × 29) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(22 × 3 × 151)/(5 × 23 × 29) =
1,812/3,335
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,812/3,335 =
1,812 ÷ 3,335 =
0.543328335832 ≈
0.54