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:
15 = 3 × 5
15 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,020 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 13 × 13 × 29 × 5,101 = 22 × 5 × 132 × 29 × 5,101
500,000,020 is a composite number.
15/500,000,020 =
(15 ÷ 5) / (500,000,020 ÷ 5) =
3/100,000,004
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.
15/500,000,020 =
(3 × 5)/(22 × 5 × 132 × 29 × 5,101) =
((3 × 5) ÷ 5) / ((22 × 5 × 132 × 29 × 5,101) ÷ 5) =
3/(22 × 132 × 29 × 5,101) =
3/100,000,004
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3/100,000,004 =
3 ÷ 100,000,004 =
0.00000003 ≈
0