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:
1,682 = 2 × 29 × 29 = 2 × 292
1,682 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
30,016 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 67 = 26 × 7 × 67
30,016 is a composite number.
1,682/30,016 =
(1,682 ÷ 2) / (30,016 ÷ 2) =
841/15,008
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.
1,682/30,016 =
(2 × 292)/(26 × 7 × 67) =
((2 × 292) ÷ 2) / ((26 × 7 × 67) ÷ 2) =
292/(25 × 7 × 67) =
841/15,008
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
841/15,008 =
841 ÷ 15,008 =
0.056036780384 ≈
0.06