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:
25,669 = 7 × 19 × 193
25,669 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
693,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 × 11 = 23 × 32 × 53 × 7 × 11
693,000 is a composite number.
25,669/693,000 =
(25,669 ÷ 7) / (693,000 ÷ 7) =
3,667/99,000
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.
25,669/693,000 =
(7 × 19 × 193)/(23 × 32 × 53 × 7 × 11) =
((7 × 19 × 193) ÷ 7) / ((23 × 32 × 53 × 7 × 11) ÷ 7) =
(19 × 193)/(23 × 32 × 53 × 11) =
3,667/99,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3,667/99,000 =
3,667 ÷ 99,000 =
0.03704040404 ≈
0.04