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:
26 = 2 × 13
26 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,068 = 2 × 2 × 73 × 1,712,329 = 22 × 73 × 1,712,329
500,000,068 is a composite number.
26/500,000,068 =
(26 ÷ 2) / (500,000,068 ÷ 2) =
13/250,000,034
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.
26/500,000,068 =
(2 × 13)/(22 × 73 × 1,712,329) =
((2 × 13) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 73 × 1,712,329) ÷ 2) =
13/(2 × 73 × 1,712,329) =
13/250,000,034
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
13/250,000,034 =
13 ÷ 250,000,034 =
0.000000052 ≈
0