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:
13 is a prime number, it cannot be factored (into other prime factors).
4,000,000,030 = 2 × 5 × 13 × 1,783 × 17,257
4,000,000,030 is a composite number.
13/4,000,000,030 =
(13 ÷ 13) / (4,000,000,030 ÷ 13) =
1/307,692,310
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.
13/4,000,000,030 =
13/(2 × 5 × 13 × 1,783 × 17,257) =
(13 ÷ 13) / ((2 × 5 × 13 × 1,783 × 17,257) ÷ 13) =
1/(2 × 5 × 1,783 × 17,257) =
1/307,692,310
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1/307,692,310 =
1 ÷ 307,692,310 =
0.00000000325 ≈
0