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:
227,274 = 2 × 3 × 37,879
227,274 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
299,997 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 41 × 271 = 33 × 41 × 271
299,997 is a composite number.
227,274/299,997 =
(227,274 ÷ 3) / (299,997 ÷ 3) =
75,758/99,999
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.
227,274/299,997 =
(2 × 3 × 37,879)/(33 × 41 × 271) =
((2 × 3 × 37,879) ÷ 3) / ((33 × 41 × 271) ÷ 3) =
(2 × 37,879)/(32 × 41 × 271) =
75,758/99,999
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
75,758/99,999 =
75,758 ÷ 99,999 =
0.757587575876 ≈
0.76