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:
22,004 = 2 × 2 × 5,501 = 22 × 5,501
22,004 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
400,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 27 × 55
400,000 is a composite number.
22,004/400,000 =
(22,004 ÷ 4) / (400,000 ÷ 4) =
5,501/100,000
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.
22,004/400,000 =
(22 × 5,501)/(27 × 55) =
((22 × 5,501) ÷ 22) / ((27 × 55) ÷ 22) =
5,501/(25 × 55) =
5,501/100,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5,501/100,000 =
5,501 ÷ 100,000 =
0.05501 ≈
0.06