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:
24 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 = 23 × 3
24 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,000,000,050 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 2,962,963 = 2 × 33 × 52 × 2,962,963
4,000,000,050 is a composite number.
24/4,000,000,050 =
(24 ÷ 6) / (4,000,000,050 ÷ 6) =
4/666,666,675
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.
24/4,000,000,050 =
(23 × 3)/(2 × 33 × 52 × 2,962,963) =
((23 × 3) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 33 × 52 × 2,962,963) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
22/(32 × 52 × 2,962,963) =
4/666,666,675
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4/666,666,675 =
4 ÷ 666,666,675 =
0.000000006 ≈
0