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:
18,367,348 = 2 × 2 × 4,591,837 = 22 × 4,591,837
18,367,348 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
899,999,992 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 17 × 47 × 103 × 1,367 = 23 × 17 × 47 × 103 × 1,367
899,999,992 is a composite number.
18,367,348/899,999,992 =
(18,367,348 ÷ 4) / (899,999,992 ÷ 4) =
4,591,837/224,999,998
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.
18,367,348/899,999,992 =
(22 × 4,591,837)/(23 × 17 × 47 × 103 × 1,367) =
((22 × 4,591,837) ÷ 22) / ((23 × 17 × 47 × 103 × 1,367) ÷ 22) =
4,591,837/(2 × 17 × 47 × 103 × 1,367) =
4,591,837/224,999,998
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,591,837/224,999,998 =
4,591,837 ÷ 224,999,998 =
0.020408164626 ≈
0.02