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:
27,291,980 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 19 × 71,821 = 22 × 5 × 19 × 71,821
27,291,980 is a composite number.
59,399,915 = 5 × 23 × 516,521
59,399,915 is a composite number.
27,291,980/59,399,915 =
(27,291,980 ÷ 5) / (59,399,915 ÷ 5) =
5,458,396/11,879,983
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.
27,291,980/59,399,915 =
(22 × 5 × 19 × 71,821)/(5 × 23 × 516,521) =
((22 × 5 × 19 × 71,821) ÷ 5) / ((5 × 23 × 516,521) ÷ 5) =
(22 × 19 × 71,821)/(23 × 516,521) =
5,458,396/11,879,983
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5,458,396/11,879,983 =
5,458,396 ÷ 11,879,983 =
0.45946160024 ≈
0.46