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:
27,063,322 = 2 × 11 × 13 × 13 × 29 × 251 = 2 × 11 × 132 × 29 × 251
27,063,322 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
31,249,984 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 19 × 31 × 829 = 26 × 19 × 31 × 829
31,249,984 is a composite number.
27,063,322/31,249,984 =
(27,063,322 ÷ 2) / (31,249,984 ÷ 2) =
13,531,661/15,624,992
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.
27,063,322/31,249,984 =
(2 × 11 × 132 × 29 × 251)/(26 × 19 × 31 × 829) =
((2 × 11 × 132 × 29 × 251) ÷ 2) / ((26 × 19 × 31 × 829) ÷ 2) =
(11 × 132 × 29 × 251)/(25 × 19 × 31 × 829) =
13,531,661/15,624,992
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
13,531,661/15,624,992 =
13,531,661 ÷ 15,624,992 =
0.866026747406 ≈
0.87