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:
16,000,036 = 2 × 2 × 13 × 307,693 = 22 × 13 × 307,693
16,000,036 is a composite number.
30,000,030 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 101 × 9,901
30,000,030 is a composite number.
16,000,036/30,000,030 =
(16,000,036 ÷ 2) / (30,000,030 ÷ 2) =
8,000,018/15,000,015
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.
16,000,036/30,000,030 =
(22 × 13 × 307,693)/(2 × 3 × 5 × 101 × 9,901) =
((22 × 13 × 307,693) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 3 × 5 × 101 × 9,901) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 13 × 307,693)/(3 × 5 × 101 × 9,901) =
8,000,018/15,000,015
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
8,000,018/15,000,015 =
8,000,018 ÷ 15,000,015 =
0.533333999999 ≈
0.53