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:
27,292,055 = 5 × 7 × 17 × 45,869
27,292,055 is a composite number.
59,400,055 = 5 × 11 × 13 × 83,077
59,400,055 is a composite number.
27,292,055/59,400,055 =
(27,292,055 ÷ 5) / (59,400,055 ÷ 5) =
5,458,411/11,880,011
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.
27,292,055/59,400,055 =
(5 × 7 × 17 × 45,869)/(5 × 11 × 13 × 83,077) =
((5 × 7 × 17 × 45,869) ÷ 5) / ((5 × 11 × 13 × 83,077) ÷ 5) =
(7 × 17 × 45,869)/(11 × 13 × 83,077) =
5,458,411/11,880,011
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5,458,411/11,880,011 =
5,458,411 ÷ 11,880,011 =
0.45946177996 ≈
0.46