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:
118 = 2 × 59
118 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,112 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3,472,223 = 24 × 32 × 3,472,223
500,000,112 is a composite number.
118/500,000,112 =
(118 ÷ 2) / (500,000,112 ÷ 2) =
59/250,000,056
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.
118/500,000,112 =
(2 × 59)/(24 × 32 × 3,472,223) =
((2 × 59) ÷ 2) / ((24 × 32 × 3,472,223) ÷ 2) =
59/(23 × 32 × 3,472,223) =
59/250,000,056
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
59/250,000,056 =
59 ÷ 250,000,056 =
0.000000236 ≈
0