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:
16,111,134 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 13 × 31 × 2,221 = 2 × 32 × 13 × 31 × 2,221
16,111,134 is a composite number.
50,000,007 = 3 × 16,666,669
50,000,007 is a composite number.
16,111,134/50,000,007 =
(16,111,134 ÷ 3) / (50,000,007 ÷ 3) =
5,370,378/16,666,669
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.
16,111,134/50,000,007 =
(2 × 32 × 13 × 31 × 2,221)/(3 × 16,666,669) =
((2 × 32 × 13 × 31 × 2,221) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 16,666,669) ÷ 3) =
(2 × 3 × 13 × 31 × 2,221)/16,666,669 =
5,370,378/16,666,669
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5,370,378/16,666,669 =
5,370,378 ÷ 16,666,669 =
0.322222634889 ≈
0.32