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:
13,884 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 13 × 89 = 22 × 3 × 13 × 89
13,884 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
299,970 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 11 × 101 = 2 × 33 × 5 × 11 × 101
299,970 is a composite number.
13,884/299,970 =
(13,884 ÷ 6) / (299,970 ÷ 6) =
2,314/49,995
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.
13,884/299,970 =
(22 × 3 × 13 × 89)/(2 × 33 × 5 × 11 × 101) =
((22 × 3 × 13 × 89) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 33 × 5 × 11 × 101) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(2 × 13 × 89)/(32 × 5 × 11 × 101) =
2,314/49,995
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,314/49,995 =
2,314 ÷ 49,995 =
0.046284628463 ≈
0.05