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:
25,000,154 = 2 × 12,500,077
25,000,154 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
30,000,042 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 179 × 9,311 = 2 × 32 × 179 × 9,311
30,000,042 is a composite number.
25,000,154/30,000,042 =
(25,000,154 ÷ 2) / (30,000,042 ÷ 2) =
12,500,077/15,000,021
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.
25,000,154/30,000,042 =
(2 × 12,500,077)/(2 × 32 × 179 × 9,311) =
((2 × 12,500,077) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 32 × 179 × 9,311) ÷ 2) =
12,500,077/(32 × 179 × 9,311) =
12,500,077/15,000,021
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
12,500,077/15,000,021 =
12,500,077 ÷ 15,000,021 =
0.833337299994 ≈
0.83