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:
22,017 = 3 × 41 × 179
22,017 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
400,014 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 71 × 313 = 2 × 32 × 71 × 313
400,014 is a composite number.
22,017/400,014 =
(22,017 ÷ 3) / (400,014 ÷ 3) =
7,339/133,338
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.
22,017/400,014 =
(3 × 41 × 179)/(2 × 32 × 71 × 313) =
((3 × 41 × 179) ÷ 3) / ((2 × 32 × 71 × 313) ÷ 3) =
(41 × 179)/(2 × 3 × 71 × 313) =
7,339/133,338
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,339/133,338 =
7,339 ÷ 133,338 =
0.05504057358 ≈
0.06