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:
19,666 = 2 × 9,833
19,666 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
67,480 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 7 × 241 = 23 × 5 × 7 × 241
67,480 is a composite number.
19,666/67,480 =
(19,666 ÷ 2) / (67,480 ÷ 2) =
9,833/33,740
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.
19,666/67,480 =
(2 × 9,833)/(23 × 5 × 7 × 241) =
((2 × 9,833) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 5 × 7 × 241) ÷ 2) =
9,833/(22 × 5 × 7 × 241) =
9,833/33,740
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
9,833/33,740 =
9,833 ÷ 33,740 =
0.291434499111 ≈
0.29