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:
266,640,002 = 2 × 17 × 97 × 80,849
266,640,002 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
499,950,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 11 × 101 = 24 × 32 × 55 × 11 × 101
499,950,000 is a composite number.
266,640,002/499,950,000 =
(266,640,002 ÷ 2) / (499,950,000 ÷ 2) =
133,320,001/249,975,000
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.
266,640,002/499,950,000 =
(2 × 17 × 97 × 80,849)/(24 × 32 × 55 × 11 × 101) =
((2 × 17 × 97 × 80,849) ÷ 2) / ((24 × 32 × 55 × 11 × 101) ÷ 2) =
(17 × 97 × 80,849)/(23 × 32 × 55 × 11 × 101) =
133,320,001/249,975,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
133,320,001/249,975,000 =
133,320,001 ÷ 249,975,000 =
0.533333337334 ≈
0.53