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:
13,302 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 739 = 2 × 32 × 739
13,302 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
50,024 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 13 × 13 × 37 = 23 × 132 × 37
50,024 is a composite number.
13,302/50,024 =
(13,302 ÷ 2) / (50,024 ÷ 2) =
6,651/25,012
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.
13,302/50,024 =
(2 × 32 × 739)/(23 × 132 × 37) =
((2 × 32 × 739) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 132 × 37) ÷ 2) =
(32 × 739)/(22 × 132 × 37) =
6,651/25,012
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
6,651/25,012 =
6,651 ÷ 25,012 =
0.265912362066 ≈
0.27