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:
23,703,696 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 97 × 1,697 = 24 × 32 × 97 × 1,697
23,703,696 is a composite number.
44,444,415 = 3 × 5 × 2,962,961
44,444,415 is a composite number.
23,703,696/44,444,415 =
(23,703,696 ÷ 3) / (44,444,415 ÷ 3) =
7,901,232/14,814,805
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.
23,703,696/44,444,415 =
(24 × 32 × 97 × 1,697)/(3 × 5 × 2,962,961) =
((24 × 32 × 97 × 1,697) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 5 × 2,962,961) ÷ 3) =
(24 × 3 × 97 × 1,697)/(5 × 2,962,961) =
7,901,232/14,814,805
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,901,232/14,814,805 =
7,901,232 ÷ 14,814,805 =
0.533333513333 ≈
0.53