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:
1,846,194 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 113 × 389
1,846,194 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
6,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 27 × 3 × 56
6,000,000 is a composite number.
1,846,194/6,000,000 =
(1,846,194 ÷ 6) / (6,000,000 ÷ 6) =
307,699/1,000,000
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.
1,846,194/6,000,000 =
(2 × 3 × 7 × 113 × 389)/(27 × 3 × 56) =
((2 × 3 × 7 × 113 × 389) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((27 × 3 × 56) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(7 × 113 × 389)/(26 × 56) =
307,699/1,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
307,699/1,000,000 =
307,699 ÷ 1,000,000 =
0.307699 ≈
0.31