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:
24,444,455 = 5 × 7 × 698,413
24,444,455 is a composite number.
200,000,010 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 × 952,381
200,000,010 is a composite number.
24,444,455/200,000,010 =
(24,444,455 ÷ 35) / (200,000,010 ÷ 35) =
698,413/5,714,286
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.
24,444,455/200,000,010 =
(5 × 7 × 698,413)/(2 × 3 × 5 × 7 × 952,381) =
((5 × 7 × 698,413) ÷ (5 × 7)) / ((2 × 3 × 5 × 7 × 952,381) ÷ (5 × 7)) =
698,413/(2 × 3 × 952,381) =
698,413/5,714,286
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
698,413/5,714,286 =
698,413 ÷ 5,714,286 =
0.122222268889 ≈
0.12