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:
1,288 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 23 = 23 × 7 × 23
1,288 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,050 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 = 2 × 34 × 52
4,050 is a composite number.
1,288/4,050 =
(1,288 ÷ 2) / (4,050 ÷ 2) =
644/2,025
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.
1,288/4,050 =
(23 × 7 × 23)/(2 × 34 × 52) =
((23 × 7 × 23) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 34 × 52) ÷ 2) =
(22 × 7 × 23)/(34 × 52) =
644/2,025
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
644/2,025 =
644 ÷ 2,025 =
0.318024691358 ≈
0.32