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:
25,978,138 = 2 × 12,989,069
25,978,138 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
29,996,976 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 17 × 36,761 = 24 × 3 × 17 × 36,761
29,996,976 is a composite number.
25,978,138/29,996,976 =
(25,978,138 ÷ 2) / (29,996,976 ÷ 2) =
12,989,069/14,998,488
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.
25,978,138/29,996,976 =
(2 × 12,989,069)/(24 × 3 × 17 × 36,761) =
((2 × 12,989,069) ÷ 2) / ((24 × 3 × 17 × 36,761) ÷ 2) =
12,989,069/(23 × 3 × 17 × 36,761) =
12,989,069/14,998,488
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
12,989,069/14,998,488 =
12,989,069 ÷ 14,998,488 =
0.866025228676 ≈
0.87