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:
12,855,867 = 3 × 457 × 9,377
12,855,867 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
29,997,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 11 × 101 = 23 × 33 × 53 × 11 × 101
29,997,000 is a composite number.
12,855,867/29,997,000 =
(12,855,867 ÷ 3) / (29,997,000 ÷ 3) =
4,285,289/9,999,000
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.
12,855,867/29,997,000 =
(3 × 457 × 9,377)/(23 × 33 × 53 × 11 × 101) =
((3 × 457 × 9,377) ÷ 3) / ((23 × 33 × 53 × 11 × 101) ÷ 3) =
(457 × 9,377)/(23 × 32 × 53 × 11 × 101) =
4,285,289/9,999,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,285,289/9,999,000 =
4,285,289 ÷ 9,999,000 =
0.428571757176 ≈
0.43