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:
Written with exponents:
270 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 = 2 × 33 × 5
270 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
2,000,184 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 83,341 = 23 × 3 × 83,341
2,000,184 is a composite number.
270/2,000,184 =
(270 ÷ 6) / (2,000,184 ÷ 6) =
45/333,364
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.
270/2,000,184 =
(2 × 33 × 5)/(23 × 3 × 83,341) =
((2 × 33 × 5) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((23 × 3 × 83,341) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(32 × 5)/(22 × 83,341) =
45/333,364
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
45/333,364 =
45 ÷ 333,364 =
0.000134987581 ≈
0