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:
21,434 = 2 × 7 × 1,531
21,434 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
150,012 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 463 = 22 × 34 × 463
150,012 is a composite number.
21,434/150,012 =
(21,434 ÷ 2) / (150,012 ÷ 2) =
10,717/75,006
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.
21,434/150,012 =
(2 × 7 × 1,531)/(22 × 34 × 463) =
((2 × 7 × 1,531) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 34 × 463) ÷ 2) =
(7 × 1,531)/(2 × 34 × 463) =
10,717/75,006
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
10,717/75,006 =
10,717 ÷ 75,006 =
0.142881902781 ≈
0.14