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:
16,000,030 = 2 × 5 × 31 × 51,613
16,000,030 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
30,000,015 = 3 × 3 × 5 × 666,667 = 32 × 5 × 666,667
30,000,015 is a composite number.
16,000,030/30,000,015 =
(16,000,030 ÷ 5) / (30,000,015 ÷ 5) =
3,200,006/6,000,003
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.
16,000,030/30,000,015 =
(2 × 5 × 31 × 51,613)/(32 × 5 × 666,667) =
((2 × 5 × 31 × 51,613) ÷ 5) / ((32 × 5 × 666,667) ÷ 5) =
(2 × 31 × 51,613)/(32 × 666,667) =
3,200,006/6,000,003
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3,200,006/6,000,003 =
3,200,006 ÷ 6,000,003 =
0.533334066666 ≈
0.53