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:
285,719 = 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 17 = 75 × 17
285,719 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
14,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 = 27 × 56 × 7
14,000,000 is a composite number.
285,719/14,000,000 =
(285,719 ÷ 7) / (14,000,000 ÷ 7) =
40,817/2,000,000
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.
285,719/14,000,000 =
(75 × 17)/(27 × 56 × 7) =
((75 × 17) ÷ 7) / ((27 × 56 × 7) ÷ 7) =
(74 × 17)/(27 × 56) =
40,817/2,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
40,817/2,000,000 =
40,817 ÷ 2,000,000 =
0.0204085 ≈
0.02