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:
11,125 = 5 × 5 × 5 × 89 = 53 × 89
11,125 is a composite number.
40,000,030 = 2 × 5 × 7 × 139 × 4,111
40,000,030 is a composite number.
11,125/40,000,030 =
(11,125 ÷ 5) / (40,000,030 ÷ 5) =
2,225/8,000,006
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.
11,125/40,000,030 =
(53 × 89)/(2 × 5 × 7 × 139 × 4,111) =
((53 × 89) ÷ 5) / ((2 × 5 × 7 × 139 × 4,111) ÷ 5) =
(52 × 89)/(2 × 7 × 139 × 4,111) =
2,225/8,000,006
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,225/8,000,006 =
2,225 ÷ 8,000,006 =
0.000278124791 ≈
0