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:
27,291,962 = 2 × 13,645,981
27,291,962 is a composite number.
59,399,902 = 2 × 59 × 503,389
59,399,902 is a composite number.
27,291,962/59,399,902 =
(27,291,962 ÷ 2) / (59,399,902 ÷ 2) =
13,645,981/29,699,951
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.
27,291,962/59,399,902 =
(2 × 13,645,981)/(2 × 59 × 503,389) =
((2 × 13,645,981) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 59 × 503,389) ÷ 2) =
13,645,981/(59 × 503,389) =
13,645,981/29,699,951
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
13,645,981/29,699,951 =
13,645,981 ÷ 29,699,951 =
0.459461397765 ≈
0.46