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:
23,136 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 241 = 25 × 3 × 241
23,136 is a composite number.
499,965 = 3 × 5 × 33,331
499,965 is a composite number.
23,136/499,965 =
(23,136 ÷ 3) / (499,965 ÷ 3) =
7,712/166,655
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.
23,136/499,965 =
(25 × 3 × 241)/(3 × 5 × 33,331) =
((25 × 3 × 241) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 5 × 33,331) ÷ 3) =
(25 × 241)/(5 × 33,331) =
7,712/166,655
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,712/166,655 =
7,712 ÷ 166,655 =
0.046275239267 ≈
0.05