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:
13,300 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 7 × 19 = 22 × 52 × 7 × 19
13,300 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
50,024 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 13 × 13 × 37 = 23 × 132 × 37
50,024 is a composite number.
13,300/50,024 =
(13,300 ÷ 4) / (50,024 ÷ 4) =
3,325/12,506
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.
13,300/50,024 =
(22 × 52 × 7 × 19)/(23 × 132 × 37) =
((22 × 52 × 7 × 19) ÷ 22) / ((23 × 132 × 37) ÷ 22) =
(52 × 7 × 19)/(2 × 132 × 37) =
3,325/12,506
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3,325/12,506 =
3,325 ÷ 12,506 =
0.265872381257 ≈
0.27