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:
12,524 = 2 × 2 × 31 × 101 = 22 × 31 × 101
12,524 is a composite number.
200,010 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 59 × 113
200,010 is a composite number.
12,524/200,010 =
(12,524 ÷ 2) / (200,010 ÷ 2) =
6,262/100,005
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.
12,524/200,010 =
(22 × 31 × 101)/(2 × 3 × 5 × 59 × 113) =
((22 × 31 × 101) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 3 × 5 × 59 × 113) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 31 × 101)/(3 × 5 × 59 × 113) =
6,262/100,005
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
6,262/100,005 =
6,262 ÷ 100,005 =
0.062616869157 ≈
0.06