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:
212 = 2 × 2 × 53 = 22 × 53
212 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,196 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 41,666,683 = 22 × 3 × 41,666,683
500,000,196 is a composite number.
212/500,000,196 =
(212 ÷ 4) / (500,000,196 ÷ 4) =
53/125,000,049
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.
212/500,000,196 =
(22 × 53)/(22 × 3 × 41,666,683) =
((22 × 53) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 3 × 41,666,683) ÷ 22) =
53/(3 × 41,666,683) =
53/125,000,049
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
53/125,000,049 =
53 ÷ 125,000,049 =
0.000000424 ≈
0