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:
12 = 2 × 2 × 3 = 22 × 3
12 is a composite number.
4,000,000,026 = 2 × 3 × 11 × 60,606,061
4,000,000,026 is a composite number.
12/4,000,000,026 =
(12 ÷ 6) / (4,000,000,026 ÷ 6) =
2/666,666,671
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.
12/4,000,000,026 =
(22 × 3)/(2 × 3 × 11 × 60,606,061) =
((22 × 3) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 11 × 60,606,061) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
2/(11 × 60,606,061) =
2/666,666,671
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2/666,666,671 =
2 ÷ 666,666,671 =
0.000000003 ≈
0