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:
12,204 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 113 = 22 × 33 × 113
12,204 is a composite number.
699,891 = 3 × 233,297
699,891 is a composite number.
12,204/699,891 =
(12,204 ÷ 3) / (699,891 ÷ 3) =
4,068/233,297
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.
12,204/699,891 =
(22 × 33 × 113)/(3 × 233,297) =
((22 × 33 × 113) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 233,297) ÷ 3) =
(22 × 32 × 113)/233,297 =
4,068/233,297
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,068/233,297 =
4,068 ÷ 233,297 =
0.017437000904 ≈
0.02