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:
12,750 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 17 = 2 × 3 × 53 × 17
12,750 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
59,994 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 11 × 101 = 2 × 33 × 11 × 101
59,994 is a composite number.
12,750/59,994 =
(12,750 ÷ 6) / (59,994 ÷ 6) =
2,125/9,999
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.
12,750/59,994 =
(2 × 3 × 53 × 17)/(2 × 33 × 11 × 101) =
((2 × 3 × 53 × 17) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 33 × 11 × 101) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(53 × 17)/(32 × 11 × 101) =
2,125/9,999
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,125/9,999 =
2,125 ÷ 9,999 =
0.212521252125 ≈
0.21