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:
1,344 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 7 = 26 × 3 × 7
1,344 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
7,986 = 2 × 3 × 11 × 11 × 11 = 2 × 3 × 113
7,986 is a composite number.
1,344/7,986 =
(1,344 ÷ 6) / (7,986 ÷ 6) =
224/1,331
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.
1,344/7,986 =
(26 × 3 × 7)/(2 × 3 × 113) =
((26 × 3 × 7) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 113) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(25 × 7)/113 =
224/1,331
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
224/1,331 =
224 ÷ 1,331 =
0.168294515402 ≈
0.17