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:
11,034,608 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 13 × 53,051 = 24 × 13 × 53,051
11,034,608 is a composite number.
20,000,078 = 2 × 7 × 601 × 2,377
20,000,078 is a composite number.
11,034,608/20,000,078 =
(11,034,608 ÷ 2) / (20,000,078 ÷ 2) =
5,517,304/10,000,039
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.
11,034,608/20,000,078 =
(24 × 13 × 53,051)/(2 × 7 × 601 × 2,377) =
((24 × 13 × 53,051) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 7 × 601 × 2,377) ÷ 2) =
(23 × 13 × 53,051)/(7 × 601 × 2,377) =
5,517,304/10,000,039
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5,517,304/10,000,039 =
5,517,304 ÷ 10,000,039 =
0.55172824826 ≈
0.55