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:
139,864 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 17,483 = 23 × 17,483
139,864 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
615,384 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 37 = 23 × 33 × 7 × 11 × 37
615,384 is a composite number.
139,864/615,384 =
(139,864 ÷ 8) / (615,384 ÷ 8) =
17,483/76,923
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.
139,864/615,384 =
(23 × 17,483)/(23 × 33 × 7 × 11 × 37) =
((23 × 17,483) ÷ 23) / ((23 × 33 × 7 × 11 × 37) ÷ 23) =
17,483/(33 × 7 × 11 × 37) =
17,483/76,923
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
17,483/76,923 =
17,483 ÷ 76,923 =
0.227279227279 ≈
0.23