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:
115 = 5 × 23
115 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,000,000,100 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 53 × 754,717 = 22 × 52 × 53 × 754,717
4,000,000,100 is a composite number.
115/4,000,000,100 =
(115 ÷ 5) / (4,000,000,100 ÷ 5) =
23/800,000,020
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.
115/4,000,000,100 =
(5 × 23)/(22 × 52 × 53 × 754,717) =
((5 × 23) ÷ 5) / ((22 × 52 × 53 × 754,717) ÷ 5) =
23/(22 × 5 × 53 × 754,717) =
23/800,000,020
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
23/800,000,020 =
23 ÷ 800,000,020 =
0.00000002875 ≈
0