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:
1,576 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 197 = 23 × 197
1,576 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
72,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 26 × 32 × 53
72,000 is a composite number.
1,576/72,000 =
(1,576 ÷ 8) / (72,000 ÷ 8) =
197/9,000
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.
1,576/72,000 =
(23 × 197)/(26 × 32 × 53) =
((23 × 197) ÷ 23) / ((26 × 32 × 53) ÷ 23) =
197/(23 × 32 × 53) =
197/9,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
197/9,000 =
197 ÷ 9,000 =
0.021888888889 ≈
0.02