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:
2,394 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 19 = 2 × 32 × 7 × 19
2,394 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
3,004 = 2 × 2 × 751 = 22 × 751
3,004 is a composite number.
2,394/3,004 =
(2,394 ÷ 2) / (3,004 ÷ 2) =
1,197/1,502
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.
2,394/3,004 =
(2 × 32 × 7 × 19)/(22 × 751) =
((2 × 32 × 7 × 19) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 751) ÷ 2) =
(32 × 7 × 19)/(2 × 751) =
1,197/1,502
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,197/1,502 =
1,197 ÷ 1,502 =
0.796937416778 ≈
0.8