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:
153,065 = 5 × 11 × 11 × 11 × 23 = 5 × 113 × 23
153,065 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,000,020 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 163 × 409 = 22 × 3 × 5 × 163 × 409
4,000,020 is a composite number.
153,065/4,000,020 =
(153,065 ÷ 5) / (4,000,020 ÷ 5) =
30,613/800,004
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.
153,065/4,000,020 =
(5 × 113 × 23)/(22 × 3 × 5 × 163 × 409) =
((5 × 113 × 23) ÷ 5) / ((22 × 3 × 5 × 163 × 409) ÷ 5) =
(113 × 23)/(22 × 3 × 163 × 409) =
30,613/800,004
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
30,613/800,004 =
30,613 ÷ 800,004 =
0.03826605867 ≈
0.04