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:
13,167 = 3 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 19 = 32 × 7 × 11 × 19
13,167 is a composite number.
50,010 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 1,667
50,010 is a composite number.
13,167/50,010 =
(13,167 ÷ 3) / (50,010 ÷ 3) =
4,389/16,670
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.
13,167/50,010 =
(32 × 7 × 11 × 19)/(2 × 3 × 5 × 1,667) =
((32 × 7 × 11 × 19) ÷ 3) / ((2 × 3 × 5 × 1,667) ÷ 3) =
(3 × 7 × 11 × 19)/(2 × 5 × 1,667) =
4,389/16,670
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,389/16,670 =
4,389 ÷ 16,670 =
0.263287342531 ≈
0.26