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:
29,629,635 = 3 × 5 × 7 × 23 × 12,269
29,629,635 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
29,999,988 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 191 × 4,363 = 22 × 32 × 191 × 4,363
29,999,988 is a composite number.
29,629,635/29,999,988 =
(29,629,635 ÷ 3) / (29,999,988 ÷ 3) =
9,876,545/9,999,996
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.
29,629,635/29,999,988 =
(3 × 5 × 7 × 23 × 12,269)/(22 × 32 × 191 × 4,363) =
((3 × 5 × 7 × 23 × 12,269) ÷ 3) / ((22 × 32 × 191 × 4,363) ÷ 3) =
(5 × 7 × 23 × 12,269)/(22 × 3 × 191 × 4,363) =
9,876,545/9,999,996
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
9,876,545/9,999,996 =
9,876,545 ÷ 9,999,996 =
0.987654895062 ≈
0.99