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:
22 = 2 × 11
22 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
50,000,104 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 11 × 11 × 47 × 157 = 23 × 7 × 112 × 47 × 157
50,000,104 is a composite number.
22/50,000,104 =
(22 ÷ 22) / (50,000,104 ÷ 22) =
1/2,272,732
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.
22/50,000,104 =
(2 × 11)/(23 × 7 × 112 × 47 × 157) =
((2 × 11) ÷ (2 × 11)) / ((23 × 7 × 112 × 47 × 157) ÷ (2 × 11)) =
1/(22 × 7 × 11 × 47 × 157) =
1/2,272,732
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1/2,272,732 =
1 ÷ 2,272,732 =
0.000000439999 ≈
0