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:
168 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 7 = 23 × 3 × 7
168 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
1,000,000,143 = 3 × 3 × 1,367 × 81,281 = 32 × 1,367 × 81,281
1,000,000,143 is a composite number.
168/1,000,000,143 =
(168 ÷ 3) / (1,000,000,143 ÷ 3) =
56/333,333,381
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.
168/1,000,000,143 =
(23 × 3 × 7)/(32 × 1,367 × 81,281) =
((23 × 3 × 7) ÷ 3) / ((32 × 1,367 × 81,281) ÷ 3) =
(23 × 7)/(3 × 1,367 × 81,281) =
56/333,333,381
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
56/333,333,381 =
56 ÷ 333,333,381 =
0.000000168 ≈
0