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:
249,998 = 2 × 7 × 7 × 2,551 = 2 × 72 × 2,551
249,998 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
1,500,016 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 59 × 227 = 24 × 7 × 59 × 227
1,500,016 is a composite number.
249,998/1,500,016 =
(249,998 ÷ 14) / (1,500,016 ÷ 14) =
17,857/107,144
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.
249,998/1,500,016 =
(2 × 72 × 2,551)/(24 × 7 × 59 × 227) =
((2 × 72 × 2,551) ÷ (2 × 7)) / ((24 × 7 × 59 × 227) ÷ (2 × 7)) =
(7 × 2,551)/(23 × 59 × 227) =
17,857/107,144
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
17,857/107,144 =
17,857 ÷ 107,144 =
0.166663555589 ≈
0.17