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:
20 = 2 × 2 × 5 = 22 × 5
20 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
250,000,000,004 = 2 × 2 × 13,177 × 4,743,113 = 22 × 13,177 × 4,743,113
250,000,000,004 is a composite number.
20/250,000,000,004 =
(20 ÷ 4) / (250,000,000,004 ÷ 4) =
5/62,500,000,001
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.
20/250,000,000,004 =
(22 × 5)/(22 × 13,177 × 4,743,113) =
((22 × 5) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 13,177 × 4,743,113) ÷ 22) =
5/(13,177 × 4,743,113) =
5/62,500,000,001
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5/62,500,000,001 =
5 ÷ 62,500,000,001 =
0.00000000008 ≈
0