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:
212,134 = 2 × 13 × 41 × 199
212,134 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
299,984 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 18,749 = 24 × 18,749
299,984 is a composite number.
212,134/299,984 =
(212,134 ÷ 2) / (299,984 ÷ 2) =
106,067/149,992
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.
212,134/299,984 =
(2 × 13 × 41 × 199)/(24 × 18,749) =
((2 × 13 × 41 × 199) ÷ 2) / ((24 × 18,749) ÷ 2) =
(13 × 41 × 199)/(23 × 18,749) =
106,067/149,992
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
106,067/149,992 =
106,067 ÷ 149,992 =
0.707151048056 ≈
0.71