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:
12,855,871 = 7 × 1,836,553
12,855,871 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
29,997,009 = 3 × 3 × 7 × 476,143 = 32 × 7 × 476,143
29,997,009 is a composite number.
12,855,871/29,997,009 =
(12,855,871 ÷ 7) / (29,997,009 ÷ 7) =
1,836,553/4,285,287
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.
12,855,871/29,997,009 =
(7 × 1,836,553)/(32 × 7 × 476,143) =
((7 × 1,836,553) ÷ 7) / ((32 × 7 × 476,143) ÷ 7) =
1,836,553/(32 × 476,143) =
1,836,553/4,285,287
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,836,553/4,285,287 =
1,836,553 ÷ 4,285,287 =
0.428571761938 ≈
0.43