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:
120,833,334 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 47 × 233 × 613 = 2 × 32 × 47 × 233 × 613
120,833,334 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
375,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 26 × 3 × 59
375,000,000 is a composite number.
120,833,334/375,000,000 =
(120,833,334 ÷ 6) / (375,000,000 ÷ 6) =
20,138,889/62,500,000
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.
120,833,334/375,000,000 =
(2 × 32 × 47 × 233 × 613)/(26 × 3 × 59) =
((2 × 32 × 47 × 233 × 613) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((26 × 3 × 59) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(3 × 47 × 233 × 613)/(25 × 59) =
20,138,889/62,500,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
20,138,889/62,500,000 =
20,138,889 ÷ 62,500,000 =
0.322222224 ≈
0.32