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:
20,576,143 = 7 × 2,939,449
20,576,143 is a composite number.
4,999,999,998 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 2,381 × 49,999
4,999,999,998 is a composite number.
20,576,143/4,999,999,998 =
(20,576,143 ÷ 7) / (4,999,999,998 ÷ 7) =
2,939,449/714,285,714
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.
20,576,143/4,999,999,998 =
(7 × 2,939,449)/(2 × 3 × 7 × 2,381 × 49,999) =
((7 × 2,939,449) ÷ 7) / ((2 × 3 × 7 × 2,381 × 49,999) ÷ 7) =
2,939,449/(2 × 3 × 2,381 × 49,999) =
2,939,449/714,285,714
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,939,449/714,285,714 =
2,939,449 ÷ 714,285,714 =
0.004115228602 ≈
0