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:
17,125,724 = 2 × 2 × 7 × 11 × 55,603 = 22 × 7 × 11 × 55,603
17,125,724 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
39,960,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 37 = 26 × 33 × 54 × 37
39,960,000 is a composite number.
17,125,724/39,960,000 =
(17,125,724 ÷ 4) / (39,960,000 ÷ 4) =
4,281,431/9,990,000
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.
17,125,724/39,960,000 =
(22 × 7 × 11 × 55,603)/(26 × 33 × 54 × 37) =
((22 × 7 × 11 × 55,603) ÷ 22) / ((26 × 33 × 54 × 37) ÷ 22) =
(7 × 11 × 55,603)/(24 × 33 × 54 × 37) =
4,281,431/9,990,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,281,431/9,990,000 =
4,281,431 ÷ 9,990,000 =
0.428571671672 ≈
0.43