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:
227,596 = 2 × 2 × 17 × 3,347 = 22 × 17 × 3,347
227,596 is a composite number.
500,000,006 = 2 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121
500,000,006 is a composite number.
227,596/500,000,006 =
(227,596 ÷ 2) / (500,000,006 ÷ 2) =
113,798/250,000,003
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.
227,596/500,000,006 =
(22 × 17 × 3,347)/(2 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121) =
((22 × 17 × 3,347) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 17 × 3,347)/(11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121) =
113,798/250,000,003
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
113,798/250,000,003 =
113,798 ÷ 250,000,003 =
0.000455191995 ≈
0