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:
23,135 = 5 × 7 × 661
23,135 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
499,950 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 11 × 101 = 2 × 32 × 52 × 11 × 101
499,950 is a composite number.
23,135/499,950 =
(23,135 ÷ 5) / (499,950 ÷ 5) =
4,627/99,990
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.
23,135/499,950 =
(5 × 7 × 661)/(2 × 32 × 52 × 11 × 101) =
((5 × 7 × 661) ÷ 5) / ((2 × 32 × 52 × 11 × 101) ÷ 5) =
(7 × 661)/(2 × 32 × 5 × 11 × 101) =
4,627/99,990
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,627/99,990 =
4,627 ÷ 99,990 =
0.046274627463 ≈
0.05