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:
24,444,468 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 43 × 15,791 = 22 × 32 × 43 × 15,791
24,444,468 is a composite number.
200,000,031 = 3 × 7 × 11 × 865,801
200,000,031 is a composite number.
24,444,468/200,000,031 =
(24,444,468 ÷ 3) / (200,000,031 ÷ 3) =
8,148,156/66,666,677
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.
24,444,468/200,000,031 =
(22 × 32 × 43 × 15,791)/(3 × 7 × 11 × 865,801) =
((22 × 32 × 43 × 15,791) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 7 × 11 × 865,801) ÷ 3) =
(22 × 3 × 43 × 15,791)/(7 × 11 × 865,801) =
8,148,156/66,666,677
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
8,148,156/66,666,677 =
8,148,156 ÷ 66,666,677 =
0.122222321056 ≈
0.12