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:
299,700,023 = 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 124,823 = 74 × 124,823
299,700,023 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
699,300,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 × 37 = 25 × 33 × 55 × 7 × 37
699,300,000 is a composite number.
299,700,023/699,300,000 =
(299,700,023 ÷ 7) / (699,300,000 ÷ 7) =
42,814,289/99,900,000
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.
299,700,023/699,300,000 =
(74 × 124,823)/(25 × 33 × 55 × 7 × 37) =
((74 × 124,823) ÷ 7) / ((25 × 33 × 55 × 7 × 37) ÷ 7) =
(73 × 124,823)/(25 × 33 × 55 × 37) =
42,814,289/99,900,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
42,814,289/99,900,000 =
42,814,289 ÷ 99,900,000 =
0.428571461461 ≈
0.43