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:
28,484 = 2 × 2 × 7,121 = 22 × 7,121
28,484 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
133,200 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 37 = 24 × 32 × 52 × 37
133,200 is a composite number.
28,484/133,200 =
(28,484 ÷ 4) / (133,200 ÷ 4) =
7,121/33,300
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.
28,484/133,200 =
(22 × 7,121)/(24 × 32 × 52 × 37) =
((22 × 7,121) ÷ 22) / ((24 × 32 × 52 × 37) ÷ 22) =
7,121/(22 × 32 × 52 × 37) =
7,121/33,300
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,121/33,300 =
7,121 ÷ 33,300 =
0.213843843844 ≈
0.21