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:
11,111,112 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 154,321 = 23 × 32 × 154,321
11,111,112 is a composite number.
66,666,666 = 2 × 3 × 11 × 73 × 101 × 137
66,666,666 is a composite number.
11,111,112/66,666,666 =
(11,111,112 ÷ 6) / (66,666,666 ÷ 6) =
1,851,852/11,111,111
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.
11,111,112/66,666,666 =
(23 × 32 × 154,321)/(2 × 3 × 11 × 73 × 101 × 137) =
((23 × 32 × 154,321) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 11 × 73 × 101 × 137) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(22 × 3 × 154,321)/(11 × 73 × 101 × 137) =
1,851,852/11,111,111
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,851,852/11,111,111 =
1,851,852 ÷ 11,111,111 =
0.166666681667 ≈
0.17