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:
19,652 = 2 × 2 × 17 × 17 × 17 = 22 × 173
19,652 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
67,476 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5,623 = 22 × 3 × 5,623
67,476 is a composite number.
19,652/67,476 =
(19,652 ÷ 4) / (67,476 ÷ 4) =
4,913/16,869
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.
19,652/67,476 =
(22 × 173)/(22 × 3 × 5,623) =
((22 × 173) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 3 × 5,623) ÷ 22) =
173/(3 × 5,623) =
4,913/16,869
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,913/16,869 =
4,913 ÷ 16,869 =
0.291244294268 ≈
0.29