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:
2,857,144 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 19 × 18,797 = 23 × 19 × 18,797
2,857,144 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
20,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 28 × 57
20,000,000 is a composite number.
2,857,144/20,000,000 =
(2,857,144 ÷ 8) / (20,000,000 ÷ 8) =
357,143/2,500,000
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.
2,857,144/20,000,000 =
(23 × 19 × 18,797)/(28 × 57) =
((23 × 19 × 18,797) ÷ 23) / ((28 × 57) ÷ 23) =
(19 × 18,797)/(25 × 57) =
357,143/2,500,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
357,143/2,500,000 =
357,143 ÷ 2,500,000 =
0.1428572 ≈
0.14