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:
15,368 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 17 × 113 = 23 × 17 × 113
15,368 is a composite number.
30,002 = 2 × 7 × 2,143
30,002 is a composite number.
15,368/30,002 =
(15,368 ÷ 2) / (30,002 ÷ 2) =
7,684/15,001
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.
15,368/30,002 =
(23 × 17 × 113)/(2 × 7 × 2,143) =
((23 × 17 × 113) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 7 × 2,143) ÷ 2) =
(22 × 17 × 113)/(7 × 2,143) =
7,684/15,001
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,684/15,001 =
7,684 ÷ 15,001 =
0.512232517832 ≈
0.51