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:
142,848 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 31 = 29 × 32 × 31
142,848 is a composite number.
999,987 = 3 × 257 × 1,297
999,987 is a composite number.
142,848/999,987 =
(142,848 ÷ 3) / (999,987 ÷ 3) =
47,616/333,329
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.
142,848/999,987 =
(29 × 32 × 31)/(3 × 257 × 1,297) =
((29 × 32 × 31) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 257 × 1,297) ÷ 3) =
(29 × 3 × 31)/(257 × 1,297) =
47,616/333,329
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
47,616/333,329 =
47,616 ÷ 333,329 =
0.142849857048 ≈
0.14