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:
144 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 = 24 × 32
144 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
400,050 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 7 × 127 = 2 × 32 × 52 × 7 × 127
400,050 is a composite number.
144/400,050 =
(144 ÷ 18) / (400,050 ÷ 18) =
8/22,225
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.
144/400,050 =
(24 × 32)/(2 × 32 × 52 × 7 × 127) =
((24 × 32) ÷ (2 × 32)) / ((2 × 32 × 52 × 7 × 127) ÷ (2 × 32)) =
23/(52 × 7 × 127) =
8/22,225
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
8/22,225 =
8 ÷ 22,225 =
0.000359955006 ≈
0