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:
19,096 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 11 × 31 = 23 × 7 × 11 × 31
19,096 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
34,992 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 = 24 × 37
34,992 is a composite number.
19,096/34,992 =
(19,096 ÷ 8) / (34,992 ÷ 8) =
2,387/4,374
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.
19,096/34,992 =
(23 × 7 × 11 × 31)/(24 × 37) =
((23 × 7 × 11 × 31) ÷ 23) / ((24 × 37) ÷ 23) =
(7 × 11 × 31)/(2 × 37) =
2,387/4,374
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,387/4,374 =
2,387 ÷ 4,374 =
0.545724737083 ≈
0.55