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:
128 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 27
128 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
600,000,000,066 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 37 × 37 × 24,348,673 = 2 × 32 × 372 × 24,348,673
600,000,000,066 is a composite number.
128/600,000,000,066 =
(128 ÷ 2) / (600,000,000,066 ÷ 2) =
64/300,000,000,033
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.
128/600,000,000,066 =
27/(2 × 32 × 372 × 24,348,673) =
(27 ÷ 2) / ((2 × 32 × 372 × 24,348,673) ÷ 2) =
26/(32 × 372 × 24,348,673) =
64/300,000,000,033
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
64/300,000,000,033 =
64 ÷ 300,000,000,033 =
0.000000000213 ≈
0