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:
240 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 = 24 × 3 × 5
240 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
33,030 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 367 = 2 × 32 × 5 × 367
33,030 is a composite number.
240/33,030 =
(240 ÷ 30) / (33,030 ÷ 30) =
8/1,101
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.
240/33,030 =
(24 × 3 × 5)/(2 × 32 × 5 × 367) =
((24 × 3 × 5) ÷ (2 × 3 × 5)) / ((2 × 32 × 5 × 367) ÷ (2 × 3 × 5)) =
23/(3 × 367) =
8/1,101
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
8/1,101 =
8 ÷ 1,101 =
0.007266121708 ≈
0.01