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:
27,291,978 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 41 × 587 = 2 × 34 × 7 × 41 × 587
27,291,978 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
59,399,919 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 113 × 19,469 = 33 × 113 × 19,469
59,399,919 is a composite number.
27,291,978/59,399,919 =
(27,291,978 ÷ 27) / (59,399,919 ÷ 27) =
1,010,814/2,199,997
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.
27,291,978/59,399,919 =
(2 × 34 × 7 × 41 × 587)/(33 × 113 × 19,469) =
((2 × 34 × 7 × 41 × 587) ÷ 33) / ((33 × 113 × 19,469) ÷ 33) =
(2 × 3 × 7 × 41 × 587)/(113 × 19,469) =
1,010,814/2,199,997
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,010,814/2,199,997 =
1,010,814 ÷ 2,199,997 =
0.459461535629 ≈
0.46