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:
19,674 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 1,093 = 2 × 32 × 1,093
19,674 is a composite number.
67,485 = 3 × 5 × 11 × 409
67,485 is a composite number.
19,674/67,485 =
(19,674 ÷ 3) / (67,485 ÷ 3) =
6,558/22,495
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.
19,674/67,485 =
(2 × 32 × 1,093)/(3 × 5 × 11 × 409) =
((2 × 32 × 1,093) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 5 × 11 × 409) ÷ 3) =
(2 × 3 × 1,093)/(5 × 11 × 409) =
6,558/22,495
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
6,558/22,495 =
6,558 ÷ 22,495 =
0.291531451434 ≈
0.29